Learning to Live Again
by coldwizard
Summary: My fanfic of what happens after the end of DH, how does life return to normal, what will life be like for Harry, Ginny, Ron & hermione? How does the wizarding world recover from the War? WARNING, some adult content!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – Making Up.**

Moving on was going to be difficult alright. So much damage had been done, so many lives had been lost, so many families torn apart. This was not going to be easy.

Harry sat on the sofa neither willing nor able to move from his slouched position. He felt drained.

He looked across the room not focussing on anything, but letting his thoughts swim around his head. It was dark. He didn't know quite how long he had sat there, he just knew that it was late. Everyone else had gone to bed long ago. The burrow was quieter that Harry had ever noticed.

Gone was the hectic bustle of noise, the clatter of cooking pots and the yelling of voices, even the old ghoul in the attic seemed to have given up bumping and moaning for a bit. The house was still, the silence punctuated only occasionally by the occasional snore or a grunt as someone turned over in their bed.

Harry felt tired but didn't want to sleep. He felt nervous that if he slept, then maybe he would wake up, still inside that tent, with Ron and Hermione - trying to work out what they would do next, the threat of Voldemort still very real.

Of course this was nonsense. He knew this, scolded himself for even thinking it. Voldemort's Death had been definite, final, and irreversible. Several people had checked, almost unbelieving, to make sure he truly was dead, but the deed was done, the curse had been deflected and had not lost any of its power. Voldemort was dead.

Yet Harry still felt numb. This family, that had looked after him, cared for him, supported him even, had paid a terrible price. They had lost a son and it was all his fault.

Harry had not wanted to go back to the Burrow with the others. Although none of the family blamed him for Fred's passing, he felt uncomfortable; after all it had been his fight really.

Mrs Weasley had hugged him tightly when he had mentioned this, he had been trying to think of an excuse not to go back with them. She had told him not to think like that, and that Fred would have felt ashamed if he had not 'done his bit.'

Harry felt no better though and simply sat silently as the family shared their grief with one another.

Ginny had sat next to him earlier, her small hand sliding on top of his and giving it a squeeze. He didn't look at her, but felt a tear build up in his eye. How could he have done this to her? The one person who kept him going all the time he was away, and he went and took away her brother. How could he?

One by one they had all drifted away to bed, wordlessly leaving the small living room, and climbing the creaking stairs. One by one Harry heard the doors shut and slowly the house had fallen silent.

Harry now closed his eyes, and tried to rid himself of all those hateful feelings, his feelings of blame and guilt, but it was no good, he felt miserable and supposed that he deserved to feel that way.

He opened his eyes and let a single tear streak down his cheek. Out of the corner of his eye noticed a small dark shape leaning against the door frame he had not heard any doors open, or any creaking from the stairs but he became more aware that he was being watched.

Quickly he wiped away the tear and turned to face the doorway.

Harry's watcher saw that they had been spotted and stood upright and walked slowly and quietly into the room. They stepped slowly out of the shadow and into the moonlight shining through the rooms' small window. Harry saw her long head of red hair, striking in the moonlight, and for the first time in ages looked up directly into Ginny's face.

"Hi" said Ginny softly as she stepped closer to Harry's seat.

Harry said nothing but smiled weakly at her as she moved to sit next to him, positioning herself so that she was sitting looking at him.

"I didn't hear you go up to bed so thought you must have still been sitting down here"

"I'm not tired" Harry said in a slightly false voice. Ginny noticed the lie straight away and half smiled at him.

"Liar!" she accused smiling slightly more. "I know you're as tired as the rest of us, that bit of sleep you got at Hogwarts wasn't enough. You need proper rest! You _deserve_ proper rest!"

"I don't deserve anything" Harry moaned, "I have brought you all so much pain I don't deserve to be here."

"Now you listen to me Harry Potter. You have brought us freedom, not pain….Fred died not because you made him fight, but because he wouldn't have been our Fred if he didn't. He fought for all of us, for me, for mum and I think most of all for George, after all, he couldn't leave old 'Lugless' to fight on his own could he?"

Harry smiled at the thought of 'Old Lugless.' Ginny softly touched his face with her hand and pulled his gaze back towards her.

"Harry Potter, you're my saviour, and I'm never going to let you forget that!"

With that she leaned forwards and kissed him tenderly on the lips. Harry closed his eyes and let himself become drawn in by her.

Ginny sat back and with a smile noticed that Harry had taken both of her hands in his.

"What was that for?" Harry asked with a slight smirk.

"For saving my family," she replied "and this…" she leaned in closer again, "…is for saving me!" her lips connected with his again, a true feeling of ferocity in them this time, as she pushed him back against the chair and kissed him deeply. Harry didn't know what to think, he just kissed back as hard as he could, trying to convey all the feelings he had felt for her since their last kiss on this 17th birthday. Ginny seemed to feel the same need for him as she hungrily wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her.

Eventually breaking away from him Ginny looked longingly into Harry's eyes and panted "Don't you dare ever leave me again Potter!" Harry simply smiled wider than he had ever smiled before and nodded.

"Never again!" he whispered.

Ginny smiled broadly too and lay down on the seat next to him, resting he head on his chest. She pulled a blanket from a pile on the floor and draped it over the two of them. Cuddled up and feeling utterly exhausted they both drifted off into a long, warm, dreamless sleep.

Harry sleepily wiped his face with his free arm and straightened his glasses. Remembering where he was he looked down. With a warm feeling of happiness he saw Ginny curled up beside him, her cheek pressed into his chest and her hair slightly ruffled but looking to him, like the best sight in the world.

Harry's other arm was being clutched tightly by the sleeping girl, and quite happy where he was and with no wish to deprive her right now Harry fell back to sleep again.

Slowly the house sprang back to life, Mrs Weasley was the first to get up as usual, and she slowly descended the stairs, stopping at the open living room door. Thinking it strange that the door was open (Normally the last one to bed closed the door behind them) she peered round the doorframe and spotted Harry and her only daughter asleep on the sofa.

Mrs Weasley smiled to herself and felt a tear prickling in her eye, she walked away into the kitchen muttering to herself comments like, "About time…" and "…such a lovely couple"

Ginny woke to the sound of Hermione's voice calling her name. She opened her eyes slowly and noticed that Harry was slowly coming round too. She saw Hermione standing in front of the sofa fully dressed, with Ron looking awkward standing behind her. Ron shot Harry a look of warning but stayed silent as Hermione spoke to Ginny.

"We're going away for a couple of weeks, Ron and I."

Ginny looked a little confused for a moment or two before Hermione continued, "We're going to Australia to retrieve my parents. And I want to introduce them to Ron."

It was Harry's turn to look confused. He turned his gaze to Ron whose ears had turned pink and seemed to be smirking shiftily.

"We got talking last night" said Ron, "and I don't know what came over me but…"

"He told me everything!" finished Hermione.

Harry almost laughed out loud. For Ron to make an admission of his feelings to Hermione must have taken a lot of courage, and perhaps it had taken an event like the war to make him speak out. Harry managed to keep a straight face and yawned, "About time wasn't it?"

Both Ron and Hermione looked sheepish, but Ginny leapt up and hugged them both. "Now no funny business when you're away together ok?" she said in a very Ron-like tone.

Looking slightly indignant Ron almost opened his mouth to reply when Mrs Weasley came into the room, carrying a large wicker picnic basket and a huge thermos flask.

"They do have food in Australia you know mum!" said Ron, grunting under the weight of the picnic basket his mother had just thrust into his arms.

"I don't want you going hungry or having to worry about all that foreign food" replied Mrs Weasley. "Besides you can't get a better date than a nice romantic picnic."

"This isn't a date mum, we're going to fetch Hermione's parents" complained Ron, but she just gave him a knowing look and chuckled as she walked out of the room.

"You'd better get going if you don't want to miss your portkey" she called over her shoulder as she entered the kitchen.

"Bloody hell" burst Ron as he looked at his watch, "We'd better get going, we ARE going to be late if we don't get a move on."

They both said hasty goodbyes and stepped out through the kitchen and out the back door before running off down the drive.

Ginny leaned over to kiss Harry then stood up to stretch. Harry watched her, taking in every curve of her body, mesmerized by them, seeing her pyjamas rise slightly to expose her bare midriff. Harry's heart skipped a beat at the sight of Ginny's bare flesh. Ginny spotted his gaze and smiled.

"You like what you see Mr potter?" she asked slyly.

Harry nodded and looked up to see Ginny's amused face smiling at him. She winked and walked out of the room to get dressed for breakfast.

Harry walked into the kitchen to see Mrs Weasley talking to the fire. There amongst the flames was the head of Professor McGonagall. She turned to face the door and saw Harry standing there!

"Hello Mr Potter." She said quickly "Molly, I will be in touch again soon. If you could let Arthur know what we discussed and get him to send me an owl if he agrees?" Mrs Weasley nodded her agreement "I must be off, there's so much to do." With that there was a pop and the fire returned to normal.

"Harry dear," said Mrs Weasley "Breakfast? Toast, eggs, sausage?" Harry nodded and sat down at the scrubbed table while Mrs Weasley busied herself with breakfast.

"What did Professor McGonagall want?" asked Harry interested, as Ginny bounced into the kitchen and sat down next to him.

"What? McGonagall was here?" Asked Ginny.

"No, no dear," her mother started "She just called into the fire to talk to Arthur. Apparently there's erm…a lot to do to repair Hogwarts and she erm…wanted his help" She sounded slightly unconvincing, "Erm…Arthur has gone into work early to…erm… make a start on the Ministry clean up."

Ginny looked puzzled and looked like she was about to ask another question when her mum asked one of her own;

"So what about you two then? I saw you both asleep this morning, would I be right in saying that you two are going to recommence courting, or were you just tired?"

Ginny looked nervously to Harry, as she couldn't truthfully answer the question herself. She knew what she wanted to say, but wasn't sure how Harry really felt. They hadn't exactly spent much of the previous night talking.

Harry broke the silence. "Mrs Weasley, I care for Ginny very much, and I know that breaking it off with her couldn't have been easy, I mean…" he looked at Ginny "I would be honoured if she would agree to take me back and be my girlfriend again."

Ginny didn't wait to see her mother's response, she simply screamed in delight and threw herself at Harry, knocking his glasses slightly askew and nearly making his chair topple over backwards in the process. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and whispered in his ear,

"Do you know that was the bit I've been waiting for all year, my silver lining! Yes, yes and yes again!"

Harry grinned and Mrs Weasley shot him a conspiratory wink as she stood and left the room.

"Of course there is one condition," said Harry, causing Ginny to pull away form him slightly

"What's that?" she asked with a slight note of caution in her voice.

Harry grinned "That you let me take you on a proper date!"

Ginny grinned again, remembering that they had not actually been on a proper date before. "Deal" she said before Harry leaned forward and kissed her passionately.

A/N:Hi everybody. This is my first venture into fan fiction, and I'm not sure If I'm going to be any good. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think. I'm planning on quite a few chapters here, and hope to get all of my ideas down to fill in what I think could happen, and what I would like to happen after the events in DH. Thanks for reading my first chapter.


	2. Chapter 2  Starting Over

Chapter 2 – Starting Over 

It was an unusual morning at the Burrow. Unusual because it was quiet.

Ron had left with Hermione for Australia, George had decided to go back to the flat he had shared with Fred over the shop in Diagon Alley, Bill had taken Fleur back to Shell Cottage, Charlie was in Romania and Percy had gone with his dad to the Ministry.

This left Ginny as the only one of the Weasley offspring left at home. Her mother was busy clearing up after breakfast so Ginny was left alone, for the time being at least, with Harry.

She sighed and gazed at him, happily staring into his green eyes, while he played with her hair. Harry was sitting on the sofa in the living room, with Ginny lying down, her head in his lap. Harry was twirling her hair round and round his finger, and then letting the curl unravel, before doing it again.

"You're going to make my hair curl doing that you know!" she teased him!

"Well if I do you can always straighten it using one of those straightening charms! You witches have it so easy. Did you know muggle girls have to use hot pieces of metal to iron their hair straight?"

Ginny looked amused at this thought, she grinned but let Harry carry on.

"What shall we do today?" he asked.

"Well I thought that maybe we could just have a lazy day, you know, go for a walk, a fly, or maybe…" she grinned menacingly at him, and turned over so that she could reach him properly. Suddenly she lunged at him, arms reaching for his sides as her fingers found just the right spot to tickle him, he screamed out so loud that Errol fell off his perch.

Looking indignantly at the pair Errol took flight briefly to get back to his perch. Once there he hooted loudly and tucked his head back under his wing.

Harry was, by this point squirming on the floor, hardly able to breathe, with his girlfriend on top of him showing no mercy as she tickled him even more.

"Stop…stop…or…I'm…going…to…pass…out!" he gasped.

Ginny let him up and allowed him to catch his breath. She took a step back and stood shyly looking up at him, feigning innocence as he tried to think of a way to get her back.

"You wouldn't tickle poor defenceless little me would you?" she asked coyly.

"Just you wait missy!" he promised with a look of mischief in his eye. "Right, we going for this walk then or not?" and with that the two of them joined hands and made to walk out of the living room and into the kitchen.

Harry stopped when he realised that he could hear voices in the kitchen. There wasn't supposed to be anyone home except Mrs Weasley and the two of them. He motioned for Ginny to keep quiet, and he stood listening in to the conversation.

"…won't be safe to enter until at least Christmas." Said a voice that sounded familiar.

"But surely Arthur, with the ministry working on it, you will be finished sooner than that?" said Mrs Weasley.

"No Molly, neither Minerva nor myself want the Ministry involved in the repairs, even now we are not sure if the Ministry is safe enough to trust with something as important as this. No it's got to be us. I know there aren't many of us, but we have been looking for trustworthy volunteers."

"The Entrance hall has taken a real pounding and most of the defensive spells securing the castle have gone. It's going to take a while to establish what protection remains. Maybe even muggles can see the place!" added McGonagall.

"Well we know for certain that one still works. I already tried it out with a couple I met just outside Hogsmeade, they looked completely bewildered when I asked if they had seen a castle around. Said something about barren wilderness and wildlife conservation. Then walked off. Quite rude if you ask me!" Mr Weasley sounded quite offended as he finished this statement.

Harry allowed himself a glance into the room and saw Mr and Mrs Weasley standing in the room along with Professor McGonagall.

"The crux of the matter Arthur," started McGonagall, "Is that Hogwarts will not be open as soon as everyone thinks. We just can't do it!"

"What about the children's education though, they can't all be sent to other schools, surely?" asked Mrs Weasley in surprise.

McGonagall sighed. "That's certainly an option, but not one either myself or the board of Governors are happy to consider just yet. We did think of running evening classes and weekend schools for as many students as possible, but that will take an awful amount of setting up, and we are desperate for teachers."

"Well we'll help out," volunteered Mrs Weasley. "In any way we can."

"Thanks Molly," said McGonagall, "Now, the reason for my visit. Arthur told me about the Ministry and Harry. I know he's of-age now but I think we really need to be careful about what he tells them. If they're going to start asking him lots of questions about You-Know-Who, we need to make sure he isn't giving out a list of how-to's to any potential dark wizard wannabe."

"I think I'm a little smarter than that!" Announced Harry storming into the room, Ginny hot on his heels.

"We know that Harry," said Mr Weasley in a pacifying sort of tone, "We just think that maybe a member of the order should be with you to make sure that the Ministry treats you fairly.

"Isn't Kingsley Minister though?" asked Harry.

"Well yes," answered Mr Weasley "But he can't oversee every little thing the ministry does you know, and we just want to be sure. Don't worry I'm sure it will be fine. It's not like you're going to be put on trial after all."

Harry allowed himself a tiny smile; Ginny put her arm around his waist and murmured,

"I'll come with you if you want."

"That would be great, I'd really appreciate that." He replied.

"That's settled then," said Mr Weasley. "The Ministry is expecting you this afternoon then, in my office for an informal chat. I'll come back to pick you up just after lunch."

Harry nodded his agreement and Mr Weasley smiled. He leaned over to his wife to kiss her goodbye before striding towards the fire, picking up some floo powder and stepping into the flames.

McGonagall made her goodbyes and exited in the same way, cheerfully waving goodbye before disappearing.

Harry couldn't help notice that Mrs Weasley still looked worried, and he doubted that it was to do with the ministry.

"Are you ok Mum?" Asked Ginny.

"Yes dear, I'm just a little upset, that's all. Nothing to worry about, I just always thought Hogwarts was indestructible, and now…" Mrs Weasley seemed to choke on the last few words. Harry felt a pang of sympathy for her; after all the castle was the first proper home he had ever known.

"Don't worry Mrs Weasley, I'm sure that Hogwarts will be rebuilt soon enough. It doesn't matter that it won't be finished tomorrow, I'm sure it will be ok."

Mrs Weasley smiled at this. She wiped her eyes then changed her tone. "You know Harry, seeing as how you're probably going to be spending a lot more time here for a while…" she eyed her daughters arm wrapped around him, "…you really should call me Molly!"

Harry grinned and nodded as Ginny tightened her grip around his waist. He brought his arm up and wrapped it around hers, feeling her midriff sent a tingle through his body and he quite liked the feeling.

Mrs Weasley picked up her clock and marched swiftly out of the room before anyone could say another word. Ginny turned to Harry and said

"Well at least we know what we are going to do today then!" Harry chuckled and they walked out the back door and into the garden.

"Fancy a quick walk?" asked Ginny, taking Harry's hand.

Harry just smiled and nodded as Ginny led him through a gap in the trees to find a narrow path leading off towards a beautiful open meadow, with a few trees penning it in.

"This was one of my favourite places when I was little" said Ginny "I wanted to share it with you!"

Harry was astounded by the place. It seemed to catch the sun perfectly, but also provide shady patches amongst the trees if you wanted them. He could see a homemade swing hanging from one of the branches, and Ginny ran to sit on the seat.

"Push me?" she asked him, and Harry gladly gave her a small push in the swing so that she moved about half a metre away from him.

"Harder than that then" she said as he pushed her a second time, this time she rose slightly higher. She leaned back in the seat, allowing her hair to fly with her. Harry thought he had never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life. Ginny tilted her head back as the swing came back towards Harry, and as she neared his face, she kissed him softly.

No sooner had Harry tried to kiss her deeper, than she swung away on the swing, giggling out loud. Harry feigned a look of mock disappointment and looked down at the ground. Ginny laughed even more and gracefully leapt off the swing and turned to face him.

She took a couple of steps forward and put her arms around his waist.

"Aww, you poor little thing." She cooed, "Here this one will last longer," She kissed him again, taking his hands and pulling him back towards the swing. Still kissing she sat him down on the seat, then climbed on top of him, leaving the ground with a gentle push so that the swing slowly started to move. Harry thought that this moment lasted for years. The two of them entwined together, gently swinging in the breeze.

Not a long while later, Ginny heard the voice of her father echoing down the path towards them. The two of them stood up from the swing, and with linked hands walked out of the clearing back up towards the burrow. Harry seemed to tighten his grip as they neared the house.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Said Ginny encouragingly. Mr Weasley smiled at the two of them and passed them both a travelling cloak that he had obviously just collected from inside.

"The minister has given us permission to use the staff entrances today, so we don't have to worry about using the visitors entrance. Quicker this way, less public." Mr Weasley said with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Why do we have to worry about being public dad?" asked Ginny.

"Well there are hordes of reporters everywhere, just dying to spot Harry first. Somehow the word got out that the Ministry wants to talk to you, and now so do all of them. Story of the century they're calling it. Don't worry though, the ministry isn't letting anyone inside, just to make sure. Kingsley has managed to persuade the press department to let him speak to you himself too."

Harry looked slightly pale at this and gripped Ginny's hand even tighter. Ginny squeezed his back to show her support as they stepped into the kitchen and up to the fire, taking a pinch of Floo powder as they approached. Mr Weasley went first, followed by Harry then Ginny.

Stepping out the other end, Harry surprisingly kept his footing relatively well, as Ginny appeared and looked for him she looked pleasantly surprised that he didn't seem to have fallen or stumbled out of the fireplace.

"Looks like you're getting the hang of this!" she said smiling at him.

Harry looked pleased with himself and winked, taking her hand and following Mr Weasley across the atrium and towards the golden lifts going up to his office.

There was the usual flutter of paper aeroplanes flying round the lifts and out into the corridors, one such plane followed the three of them down the corridor towards Mr Weasley's office before taking a sharp right turn into a crowded office area and landing smoothly on a harassed looking Percy's desk. At this commotion, Percy looked up and spotted his father, sister and Harry walking along the corridor. He raised his hand in mute greeting as they passed, and Harry smiled in return.

Harry had never seen Mr Weasley's new office before and was surprised by how much bigger and more welcoming it was than his old 'broom cupboard.' The room was still lined by filing cabinets but these ones were not overflowing, there was a huge enchanted window that was showing a bright sunlit blue sky with a few little birds flying around lazily. In the middle of the office was a huge polished oak desk with a number of comfy looking office chairs surrounding it. The desk was still littered with bits of muggle artefacts in various states of being dismantled, obviously his change of job hadn't changed his hobby of taking muggle things apart.

The new Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt was already there, sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk holding a mug of coffee and a messy file full of papers. He stood as they entered and shook Harry by the hand with both of his, real pleasure showing on his face. Harry too showed a look of true liking for this man. As far as Harry was concerned, this was the best man for the Ministers job.

"How are you Harry?" asked Kingsley.

"I'm well thank you Minister." Replied Harry still shaking his hand.

"Please, don't call me Minister, Kingsley will do fine!" said Kingsley in his deep voice.

He motioned for them all to sit down and Mr Weasley walked round the desk to sit in his own chair. Ginny was looking round the office, taking in it's size compared to the old one. There were four of them sitting in it with enough room for at least as many more again.

"Now Harry," started Kingsley opening the file to show a messy pile of hand-written letters and newspaper cuttings, "I'm sure that you are aware of the attention the press are giving you, and since you've been more or less impossible to get hold of by them, they have been hounding me instead, trying to find out where you've been hiding." He handed over a few of the papers for Harry to read.

"But I've not been hiding…" said Harry in response,scanning the article on top, which had the headline 'Potter a recluse? – Where is our Hero Hiding?' Kingsley smiled and held up his hand.

"Yes I know, but we tought it would be best for you if we make sure that the press can't find out where you have been staying. So in effect the Ministry HAS been hiding you!"

"I wondered why it had been so quiet." Commented Ginny. "And why everyone has been coming and going through the fire, and why no one has been able to Apparate or Disapparate. From round the house."

Kingsley Nodded

"Even Ron and Hermione decided to travel by portkey" she added in realisation.

Kingsley smiled in a kind of apology and cleared his throat, clearly nervous of what he was planning to say next.

"The reason I wanted to speak to you Harry was I have a proposition." Kingsley shifted in his chair and looked directly at Harry. "I promise that I will do everything in my power, to keep all this press attention off you if you will agree to grant one interview and one interview only. This interview will be broadcast on the WWN and printed in the Daily Prophet. After this we will speak no more of the events at Hogwarts and you will be left to live the rest of your life out as you wish!"

Harry looked shocked. Whatever he had expected today, he had not expected that. He was not sure if he wanted to talk about the battle, and certainly didn't want to talk about all the people who had died for him. Lupin, Tonks, Fred, even Snape. It was all so hard to deal with and he wasn't sure that he could explain it all that well. He felt nervous too about McGonagall's comments earlier. He didn't want to give anyone ideas, or advertise Voldemort's secrets to any Death Eaters still at large.

Harry felt slightly sick, but knew that unless he did something, the attention would never go away. He would be followed and hounded by the press everywhere he went, come to think of it so would Ginny. How were they supposed to go on a date with the press watching their every move? Harry took a deep breath, let these thoughts swim through his head before he put out his hand and felt for Ginny's. Finding it he gave it a squeeze and spoke;

"I do the interview for the Wizarding Wireless Network, and they print the same one in the Prophet?"

Kingsley Nodded

Harry sat there thinking for a moment longer. Mr Weasley watched him with interest through his horn-rimmed spectacles. Ginny added her other hand to Harry's and stroked the back of his.

"Ok, I'll do it, but one condition…" Harry began, Kingsley raised his eyebrows, "The reporter is anyone, and I mean ANYONE, so long as it isn't Rita Skeeter."

Kingsley laughed out loud, a deep booming laugh and Ginny squeezed Harry's hand as she too smiled. Harry looked at her and she was glad to see, he smiled back, looking somewhat relieved.

"That's settled then." Beamed Kingsley "I'll set up the interview in our Press suite for next week. I'll send you an owl with the details" with that he stood up and made to leave. "Thanks Arthur, I'll see you in Hogsmeade tomorrow morning then, and we can look into that job we discussed."

Mr Weasley nodded and shook hands with the minister.

"I'll send you a memo later on and let you know where we think." Mr Weasley said as he followed him to the door.

"By the way Harry," Kingsley said over his shoulder as he was leaving the office, "There's a job for you here with the Auror department when you've finished your NEWTS. If you want it that is!" and with that he turned away and walked out of the office.

A/N: Well everyone, that's chapter 2. I hope you liked it. At the moment I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends I spotted from DH, and then I can get into some of my really fun ideas. In the next chapter I'm planning on a visit to Diagon Alley, and some sort of a service of remembrance for those who died in the battle.


	3. Chapter 3 The Silent Partner

Chapter 3 – The Silent Partner 

Voices shouted at him, jeered him, called for him to answer their questions, but he would not. They pushed at him, pulled him, shoved quick-quote-quills in his face but still he remained silent. Their faces were contorted, screwed up, sneering at him, laughing at him. He had to get out of here. Harry looked around for some sort of escape and saw it. A gorgeous red headed girl, smiling at him. Her lips were moving in some sort of silent speech, but he couldn't quite make out what she was saying. Slowly the noise died down and he could hear her better.

"Harry…Harry…wake up love…Harry?"

Harry opened his eyes to see his girlfriend looking down at him.

"You were dreaming" she said, half amused. "and you are late for breakfast!"

Harry groaned sleepily, blinked a couple of times and yawned. He propped himself up against his pillows, his arms reached out and grabbed her unsuspecting, he rolled her onto the bed and started to tickle her like she had done to him the day before. Ginny squealed and squirmed under his weight but he refused to give up. Her giggles were escaping from her uncontrollably and they mixed with his own laughter.

Harry slowed and leaned in to kiss her. Pretty soon the tickles were replaced with kisses. Harry's hands began to caress her body, his arms snaking around her waist, feeling the exquisite touch of her skin before his hands boldly wandered under her tee shirt, feeling her waist and stroking her sides. Ginny's hands also wandered, one running through his hair, the other feeling his bare muscled chest. She let out a soft moan of appreciation as his fingers caressed the skin at the edge of her bra.

A loud clunk from downstairs snapped them back to reality, and Ginny sat up, straightening her clothes and grinning mischievously. Her hair had that unmistaken ruffled look about it and her face was flushed with the pleasure she had just experienced.

She kissed Harry and told him to get dressed, then quickly stood up and made her way out of the room off to investigate the noise they had heard.

Harry was now sleeping in Fred and George's old room, as George was living over the shop.

Mrs Weasley was still very tearful for the loss of her son, bursting into tears whenever she saw something that used to belong to him. Ginny walked into the kitchen to find out what the noise was and found her mother on the floor, having dropped the washing basket. She was crying and holding one of Freds Christmas Jumpers. Ginny rushed over to her mother and with a tear in her own eye tried to comfort her. All Ginny could hear were odd words between the sobs, "…so young…" and "…miss so much…" seemed to be being repeated over and over again. Ginny helped her pick up all the washing that she had dropped and place it neatly back in the already heavy washing basket.

Ginny seemed to be one of the few family members who had actually listened to George after the battle. George had begged them not to be upset, saying that Fred would have wanted them to laugh at his memory, not cry. Ginny was finding that hard to do, but tried to follow his lead. George it seemed was trying to hold it together for Fred's sake as well as his own. Ginny hated to think what was happening to him inside.

Ginny helped her mother up with the remainder of the washing and spotted a neatly folded pile of old baggy clothes. She looked at them and questioned her mother,

"Are those Harry's?" looking amazed at the size of them. They were much too big to fit him properly, but then she remembered that he had told her that almost all of his muggle clothes were cast-offs from his cousin, who was obviously a lot larger than he was.

Mrs Weasley turned to look at the sad little pile and nodded,

"Would you be a dear and take them up to him for me?"

Ginny scooped up the clothes in her arms and turned to go up the stairs.

"You know he's a good catch that one!" said her mother as she was about to leave the room. "I'm so happy for you." She continued still sobbing for her son.

Harry had allowed himself the luxury of semi-unpacking his school trunk, All of his worldly belongings that were usually kept inside were gradually making their way around the room, making it look messier and messier. His clothes were strewn around the room amongst old books and school equipment. He supposed that he would have to clean it all up at some point. Harry waved his wand to push the door closed, and then set about looking for a clean set of underwear. Frustrated, he dropped the bedclothes he had been using to wrap around himself, and set off in search of his underwear, starkly naked.

Halfway through rummaging through a pile of old robes Harry froze as he heard a noise from the doorway. Unknown to him Ginny had come back into the room with the pile of freshly laundered clothes.

"Looking for something?" she smirked as she looked him up and down. Harry turned a a deep shade of crimson and she threw him a pair of clean underpants.

Harry hastily put them on acutely aware of his blushing face.

"Aww, I was enjoying the view!" complained Ginny with a slight look of disappointment on her face.

Harry flushed an even deeper red and hurried to pull on an old pair of jeans. She crossed the room to him swaying her hips as she came.

"Now Mr Potter, don't tell me you're shy in front of me?" she teased.

Harry narrowed his eyes as she approached, arms outstretched for a hug. He put out his own arms and set them on her hips as she leaned in for a kiss. As their lips met he carefully lifted the hem of her tee-shirt and attempted to pull it over her head. But Ginny gently bit his lip in a reproachful manner and said;

"Not so fast you! You've got to be more subtle than that lover boy!" and she kissed him even more fiercely gave his backside a quick squeeze and turned to run out of the room. Leaving Harry definitely flustered.

Harry entered the kitchen five minutes later and sat down beside Ginny at the table. He picked up a piece of toast from her plate and took a bite hungrily.

Mrs Weasley was sitting in the living room, listening to her radio and cluching her family clock in her hands. Harry could hear the faint sounds of sobbing in the pauses in the music.

Ginny offered him a bit of her egg on the end of her fork, which he ate Just as eagerly as the toast obviously starving he reflected that he had never eaten a breakfast like this.

"Can we go and visit George in the shop today," Ginny asked him after they had finished eating. "I want to check that he is ok."

Harry nodded but looked at her, seeing the glint of sadness in her eye. He leaned forward and wiped a tear that had escaped and was threatening to roll down her cheek.

"He sent me this letter you see," she answered his look, "and I'm a little worried as to who he's getting involved with."

Harry looked at the letter that Ginny had pulled out of her pocket. He read it through then looked up into her worried looking face.

"What does he mean by his 'silent partner'?" he asked.

"I don't know" replied Ginny, "that's what I was worried about, I think he's taking Fred's death harder than we thought."

Harry stroked her face gently to comfort her, and agreed that they should go. They made their preparations to get going. They both put on their travelling cloaks found the pot containing the families supply of Floo powder and stepped into the fire.

Walking down Diagon Alley was starting to become an interesting experience for Harry. The last time he had been here was in desperately different times. He had broken into Gringotts and into a top-security vault, stole a priceless artefact from that vault, caused an avalanche of burning hot gold and flown out on the back of a half-blind dragon. He wondered out loud if they would ever let him back in again. Ginny whispered that they couldn't possibly refuse, after all the money in his own vault was his after all. Not even the Goblins could argue that! Harry suddenly remembered that he didn't just have the contents of his own vault, but also the Black family vaults too.

The alley was starting to return to some of its former glory, colour returning to windows and all ministry posters removed. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream parlour was still standing empty, but it looked like someone was interested in buying it as there was a large 'Sold' sign hanging outside the front door.

"That's a shame," said Harry, "I got loads of help with my history of magic homework there." Harry seemed saddened, remembering the free sundaes he had got every half hour, that summer before his third year at Hogwarts. With a pang of guilt he remembered that was before he had met Sirius and that Fred was still very much alive.

Ginny put her head on Harry's shoulder and stroked his back in sympathy. They continued down the street looking interested into the windows of the newly re-opened shops and wondering what would become of those that hadn't re-opened. Ollivander's seemed to be once again open for business and Harry was amused to see a small queue of nervous looking children waiting outside the shop with its peeling gold letters, with their parents obviously on a trip to buy their first wand. Harry felt in his pocket for his own wand and remembered with fondness his own trip into Ollivander's all those years ago. Harry tried to skirt around Eyelops Owl Emporium, feeling a pang of guilt and loss that Hedwig had died. She had been his only friend and companion for so many days and nights when he was left abandoned at the Dursley's. He missed her dearly.

As it happened he hadn't needed to avoid Eyelops, as Ginny had spotted her favourite shop and was dragging him towards it. Harry was more than happy to see that it was also his favourite shop, Quality Quidditch Supplies. The window was crowded with people staring at what must have been another new broom.

As Harry approached the crowd parted, staring at him and whispering. Harry and Ginny entered the shop and found en equally large crowd in there too. The crowd in the shop also fell silent, before they broke out into applause, several individuals took Harry's hand and shook it, genuine tears in their eyes.

Eventually the commotion died down and the shoppers continued about their business, one or two of them still whispering to their companions and shooting admiring looks in Ginny's direction. Ginny felt her face flush at this display of envy, but was proud to have Harry for her own.

Harry and Ginny turned to see the window display from inside the shop, and were confronted with not just one, but a pair of racing brooms glittering in the light. A large brass plaque read:

NEW!!! Firebolt Series 1a

Faster, Stronger, Lighter

Built with the professional Quidditch player in mind

Comes in Wizards and Witches models for the ultimate in flying experience.

Exclusive Registrations available.

Both Harry and Ginny stared open mouthed. It was clear that they both wanted one. Ginny quickly came to her senses and tried to lead Harry out of the shop, muttering quietly something that sounded like "…expensive!" and "…never afford…"

Harry glanced back at the display then at his girlfriend as they walked back into the open air. He bent down and wrapped his arm around her waist, hoisting her up to his height, he whispered in her ear simply "One day soon!" then he kissed her and put her back down. She looked slightly confused but then she spotted the shop she had come to see.

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was still by far the brightest most colourful shop in the street, Harry's eyes still felt somewhat offended by the brightness of it.

Ginny was glad to see the queue of customers trying to get in was a good way down the street.

"Business must be good!" Harry commented as he eyed the shop front.

"I suppose everyone needs a good laugh these days." replied Ginny, tugging his arm harder, urging him to quicken his pace. Her face still betrayed her feelings of foreboding.

As they approached the front door to the shop Harry slowed slightly seeing how full the shop was "Maybe we should come back later!" he said looking nervously at the long queue. Ginny shook her head and started to elbow her way in, dragging Harry behind her.

They found George near the back of the shop, arms full of boxes, re-filling the shelves. He seemed to be fighting a loosing battle, because as soon as he filled a shelf, young hands reached up and emptied them into their shopping baskets. There were three other assistants all wearing matching shop robes manning the till and stocking still more shelves. George spotted the two of them and dropped the boxes. One nearly landing on a small girls foot. She shrieked and ran away to hide behind her mothers legs, peering round cautiously looking for any more dangers.

George smiled at Ginny giving her a huge hug, then taking Harry firmly by the hand and wringing it until it felt more than numb. Neither of them could miss the slight emptiness behind his smile though.

"Hope you're looking after my little sis." Said George as he released Harry's throbbing digits. Harry looked offended but replied;

"Of course, you know I am, I'd never do anything to hurt her."

George winked at him and led the two of them towards the back of the shop.

"Come upstairs, out of the mad-house." He said as he led them through the curtained off area that contained all the defensive items Harry had seen when he had last visited the shop. At the back of the building there was a small door that led to a small winding staircase leading up to what Harry supposed was George's flat.

The flat itself appeared to be quite small, admittedly the feeling of smallness was caused by the huge boxes of stock for the shop, piled everywhere.

"I take it you're doing well then?" asked Ginny as they found a couple of chairs to sit on in a space between the boxes.

"Yeah, really well" replied George, still that hint of loss hiding behind his words. "I can't believe how many customers have come back so soon, it's almost as if we had never closed. I just can't create this stuff quickly enough. I've now got even more staff working for me than before." His words seemed to give the impression that if Fred were still there he would have all the help he needed.

"That's what I've come to ask you." Said Ginny. "Who is this silent partner you mentioned in your letter. I really hope you haven't got yourself involved in anything…you know…" but she tailed off seeing the look on Georges face. He was grinning broadly from ear to ear. This was a rapid departure from the look of loss he had a few seconds ago.

"You're just on time little sis, I've got something to unveil and I wanted you to see it first." He stood up and led them out to the front of the shop, through the door and out into the street. He drew his wand and put the tip to his throat and whispered "Sonorous." George's voice was magically projected along the street as he announced,

"Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls. I'm very pleased to announce that Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is back open for business. Please step inside to see some new lines alongside everyone's old favourites. These new lines are courtesy of a very special person…my brother…Fred." Ginny and Harry both gaped at him as he said this, maybe he hadn't really come to terms with his death yet and really believed him to be still alive. George winked at them though just as they had thought this and with a wave of his wand a new sign appeared above the main shop sign.

'Silent' Partner Fred Weasley April 1978 – May 1998

Sadly missed but certainly never forgotten

Over the sign a huge colour picture of Fred sat winking down at them all, smiling broadly.

"Fred left me his ideas book." George explained to the duo the sad look creeping back into his eyes. "We both kept books of our ideas and plans for the shop, so we decided that if either one of us died, that we would leave our legacy on the shelves of the shop." Ginny and Harry both looked impressed. There was some pretty neat spellwork there.

Walking back into the shop Harry couldn't help looking at some of the goods on sale. Next to the old favourites like skiving snackboxes and canary creams he spotted something that looked like muggle chocolate coins.

"Memory Money! That's one of Fred's," announced George proudly "One chocolate coin makes your memory work perfectly for one hour. Highly illegal for exams of course but useful nonetheless."

Harry continued to browse the shelves, looking past Nosebleed nougat to Insulting spellbooks, which wrote various levels of abuse back at its owner, or an unsuspecting victim. A bright colourful box caught Harry's eye and as he looked closer he spotted the label, 'Pocket Peeves, your Portable Poltergeist. – Recreate the mayhem of a Hogwarts corridor in the comfort of your own home.' These seemed to be popular as there was only one or two left.

"Wow, that's a really hard bit of magic to pull off!" said Ginny in awe. "Those Quidditch figures at the world cup weren't anywhere near as lifelike as that!" The back of the box had a small picture of Fed, similar to the new sign over the shop, obviously George had decided to use their own pictures as trademarks.

A little while later and loaded down with stuff from the shop Harry and Ginny staggered up to the Leaky Cauldron. Depositing their bags with Tom the barman, they slumped down into a couple of chairs in the bar.

"What now?" asked Ginny looking completely exhausted.

"Now we have dinner." Replied Harry and gestured towards the stairs. "Shall we change first? I've got you a nice private room to change in, up the stairs, room 11. Don't be long."

Ginny looked at him curiously, but dashed up the stairs nonetheless. Harry waited in the bar with a drink as Ginny found room 11 and opened the door. There on the bed was a dress that looked like it belonged in a princess's wardrobe. Ginny gasped and closed the door behind her. There was a loud crack and Harry appeared by the side of the bed, dressed in a very smart set of dress robes. He grinned at her and said, "It's yours, why don't you put it on?"

Ginny just stood there stunned by the beauty of a dress that she thought she could never have owned. It was simply gorgeous.

She looked at Harry and motioned for him to turn around and face the other way while she undressed. He dutifully did so, but couldn't resist turning his head slightly to see her in the mirror. What he saw took his breath away.

Ginny saw his gaze through the mirror and she smiled at him sweetly and pulled the straps of her new dress up to cover her exposed upper body.

"Cheeky!" she chided him as she stood straight.

"You look beautiful." He said simply, walking to her side.

"Not so bad yourself!"

They kissed and joined hands and walked out the door, before they reached the stairs Harry slid his hands round Ginny's waist and whispered in her ear; "Ready?"

Before she had the chance to reply she felt a tight constricting feeling, like being passed through a tight rubber tube. When she opened her eyes she saw that they had apparated from the Leaky Cauldron to the street outside a quiet but sophisticated restaurant. Not sure where they were, Ginny turned to Harry and looked at him, Harry understood the mute question immediately.

"It's new," he explained, "We're in Hogsmeade!" Ginny immediately turned her head to try to catch a glimpse of Hogwarts, sure enough the towers could be seen clearly above the rooftops of the village. "How's this for a first date?" asked Harry as he took her hand and led her to the door. "I've sent an owl home and told them not to wait up." The sun was starting to set casting a gentle golden glow over the surrounding landscape. "Shall we?"

Harry opened the door and held it while the gorgeous vision in front of him walked into the restaurant she looked deeply into his eyes and he followed her inside.

A/N: I had to stop the chapter here before I wrote the rest. There's so much to fit I here It was best to split into two chapters. I changed my idea halfway through writing this chapter, and thought it best to end here. The next chapter I want to focus on their date. Following on later I'm going to write on Hermione and Ron in Australia and hopefully I will write something as a memorial for the fallen. (I'm having some difficulties with ideas for this at the moment.)

Thanks to everyone who's left feedback so far. It's encouraging for me to read your words of support. Keep it coming and I hope I won't let you down.


	4. Chapter 4 The everlasting night

Chapter 4 – The Everlasting Night 

A tall slender witch greeted Harry and Ginny at the door. She was in her mid twenties with long auburn hair tied back in a pony tail and was wearing a set of deep crimson robes that were obviously uniform, for Harry could see a couple more waitresses wearing the same robes.

"Ah Mr Potter, thank you for choosing to dine with us this evening, your table is ready, if you would like to step this way."

Harry motioned for Ginny to go first and they followed their hostess, winding through the gaps between tables to a quiet secluded area towards the back of the restaurant. Ginny noticed that this table was set aside from all of the others and was surrounded by a neat little wall, offering its occupants a certain degree of privacy and intimacy.

The restaurant certainly looked new, and gave Ginny the impression that it was highly exclusive. She looked around the room nervously. She had never eaten in anywhere like this, I had to be expensive. As she looked around she noticed that each table was decorated in matching white and crimson table cloths, with white napkins and a huge array of sparkling silver cutlery. The wine glasses on each table were made of the finest crystal, inlaid with silver. Small clusters of candles floated serenely above each table, casting a soft and romantic light over the room, while a soft tinkling music played in the background, just loud enough to be heard, but not so loud as to be obtrusive. It was beautiful she thought.

Harry could tell that Ginny was impressed and smiled slightly to himself.

They reached their table, and Harry quickly made it to the back of Ginny's chair and pulled it out for her, pushing it back in slightly as she sat on its plush crimson cushion.

"Such a gentleman," she commented sweetly as she sat down.

Harry took his seat and ordered a bottle of wine. The waitress bowed briefly and waved her wand, conjuring a dark bottle which sparkled magically by the light of the floating candles. The bottle revolved slowly in mid air before tilting slightly and pouring a generous amount of liquid into each of their glasses.

Curiously the wine in Ginny's glass didn't quite match that in Harry's. As the waitress bowed a second time and walked away Harry explained,

"It's French Amortentia Wine, it's only to be drunk by those who are deeply in love, and will taste different to each of them." He seemed pleased with himself for knowing this. "A shared meal with a bottle of Amortentia Wine used to be the first step in a wizards Courtship of his chosen witch!" he followed, blushing slightly as he spoke.

"How did you find that out?" asked Ginny, surprised by his knowledge. She knew that having not been brought up in the Wizarding world, that Harry was still a stranger to many of its customs, especially the really old ones like this one. Ginny of course had grown up with her mother telling her tales of how her parents met, and how one day a young man would come along and whisk her of her feet in a similar way. She never thought that it would happen and knew that these days a lot of young wizards had discarded the old traditions in favour of Muggle ones.

"I read it in a book at the Burrow," he said slightly sheepishly. "I've been looking for ideas for the perfect date, I wanted to make it special for you."

Ginny looked most impressed, she smiled and picked up her wine glass. She looked from the glass to Harry, her eyes betrayed a fierce desire as they looked straight into his. She took a sip of her wine. Ok so maybe her mothers predictions would come true after all!

Dinner was served much to Ginny's surprise, almost the same as Christmas dinner at Hogwarts was. (Three guesses where the restaurant got the idea from!) Harry Picked up his menu, scanned the list for a while before announcing his choice to the plate.

As Ginny's choice appeared on her plate Harry looked across with great interest.

"What's that?" he asked pointing with his knife at her plate.

"Want to try?" she replied, picking up a morsel on her fork and offering it in his direction.

Harry leaned across the table and took the offering in his mouth, leaning back to tug it from the end of the fork. He chewed, trying to decide if he liked the flavour or not. Finally deciding he did he smiled "Mmm," he said simply.

In return he selected a piece from his own plate and offered it to his companion. Ginny looked delighted at this show of intimacy, other than at breakfast it was rare that they got the chance to be so close without half of her family watching them and passing comment. It was heaven to have Harry all to herself and she was enjoying it a lot.

As the starters were magically cleared away and the menu's reappeared for the main course, Harry shuffled his chair closer into the table, miming for Ginny to go the same.

"I wondered if you would mind taking a walk with me after dinner?" he asked eagerly, clearly wanting to tell her something more.

Ginny smiled at his rather premature timing and replied, "Of course I would, but can we finish eating first?"

Harry grinned and picked up his menu to order.

When the main course arrived they discovered that it tasted even better than the starters had. Harry was feeling full to bursting, even without dessert but neither of them could resist ordering again, if only to see if afters would be even better still.

Needless to say they were not disappointed.

They sat there telling stories and laughing at shared memories, Harry looking very guilty when Ginny pronounced that she had fancied him from the first time she had seen him on Platform 9 ¾ . Harry blushed slightly and told her all about his feelings and how he came to realise that she was the one he had always wanted, and how he had only really realised this when he got into his sixth year. He told her all about his worries that she would have preferred another man, and how he worried about Ron's reaction to Harry's love of his sister.

Ginny blushed slightly when Harry mentioned the word 'love.'

Harry thoroughly beat himself up for not asking her to the Yule ball in his fourth year and they both laughed at him when he described how he had dreaded the opening dance. Ginny promised that she would be proud to dance with him anywhere he wished and laughed out loud when Harry looked around the room, scared that there might be a dance floor in the restaurant that he hadn't spotted.

When at last the bill arrived, Harry took great care not to let Ginny see how much they had spent. He didn't care how much the meal cost him as far as he was concerned Ginny was worth every last bronze knut. Harry paid their bill quickly then re-joined Ginny and escorted her to the door. The restaurant staff all stopped to watch the hero walk by with the gorgeous girl on his arm, the girls in the room all looking at Ginny with envy.

They walked out of the restaurant and out into the street the evening was drawing dark now but it was still quite warm. Ginny was looking around trying to work out where in Hogsmeade they were. She looked to her left and saw the old creaky sign for the Hog's head. They walked down the small side street and joined the main street running through the centre of the village. They walked arm-in-arm for a few metres looking around, both lost in their own memories of school weekends spent in and around the shops.

Harry was disappointed to see that Zonko's was still closed up, but a but 'For Sale' sign hung above the door. Ginny made a mental note to mention this to George next time she saw him. Maybe he would still be interested in expanding the business into Hogsmeade. Harry led them further down the street passing Honeydukes and the post office, where Harry supposed most of the owls were out hunting. They kept walking and Ginny supposed they were heading for The Three Broomsticks, until they reached another side street that she recognised as leading to the shrieking shack. Ginny looked nervously at Harry but he smiled and explained,

"It's not really haunted." He continued to tell her all about the shack and Lupin's transformations. About the whomping willow and the secret tunnel leading into the grounds. Harry's recollections of the events was one of the clearest memories he had, after all it was during that year that he had found out about Sirius. Ginny was so enthralled by the tale that she just kept walking, looking at Harry and listening to his voice. Completely unaware the next thing she noticed was her and Harry walking into the grounds of the shack and in through a gap in the boarded up door.

Ginny held tightly to Harry's waist as they ventured deeper into the run down building. She couldn't help her nerves, after all she had believed the place to be haunted for so long.

Harry took her through the dilapidated rooms to the tunnel he knew that ran into the school grounds, Ginny gripped him tighter in a mixture of excitement and anxiety. After all the last time she had set foot in the Hogwarts grounds she had lost a brother and a great many friends. The castle was too much like a home however, to ever lose its true effect on her. They walked down the earthen passage, stooping to avoid the low roof; eventually she saw a patch of starlit sky, which must mean they were nearing the end of the tunnel. Ginny's heart skipped a beat as she realised that she would soon see the castle up close for the first time in much too long.

Harry felt around the gap for the knot on the tree trunk, found it and pressed it to ensure that they could climb out of the hole without being attacked by the vicious branches.

Harry scrambled up then turned and offered his hand to help Ginny through, they both turned to walk into the castle grounds and gasped at what they saw.

Hogwarts had been severely damaged during the battle. Damage caused by Giants and ricocheting spells was in the process of being repaired. A large section of wall that looked like it had been blown outwards in one piece was being carefully guided back into position by six wizards, each with their wand pointed at a different piece of wall. Tiny Professor Flitwick was scurrying up and down the line of wizards squeaking orders.

It was obvious that work was being carried out elsewhere in the grounds as there was a small village of tents, which looked like they had been set up as a temporary home for those working on the castle.

An old looking witch with a walking stick ambled around the side of the castle followed by a troupe of statues. With a flick of her wand she sent the statues off to take up post on their respective bases, returning to their positions from before the battle.

Ginny cuddled up to Harry's side, wrapping her arms around his waist, as Harry put his arm around her shoulder.

"Beautiful isn't it?" she whispered as they both watched the castle being rebuilt.

"Looks like you dad found some more volunteers then?" said Harry, watching the small army of witches and wizards lovingly reconstructing a small turret on the closest edge of the castle. "Perhaps it will be finished soon after all?" he suggested.

"I wondered how long it woul' be 'til I found yer two here." Said a gruff voice from behind them. They both jumped and turned around to see Hagrid Towering above them and grinning broadly through his thick beard.

Harry and Ginny both flung their arms around Hagrid babbling together about not seeing him for ages and what had he been doing.

"Grawp an' me 'ave jus' bin lendin' a hand yer know. Here and there!"

He pushed them forward and started walking towards the castle, "come on then, yer comin' or wha?" he called over his shoulder as they hurried to keep up with his massive stride.

Hagrid led them through the grounds and up to the castle main entrance hall, that had suffered so much damage. Grawp had his huge arms holding up the side of the castle walls while another small army of witches and wizards magically sealed the wall back in place.

Harry gazed wide eyed and open mouthed at the grand scale of the works going on right in front of their very eyes. He turned to see Ginny had the same look of incredible disbelief on her own face. She felt around for his hand and clasped it tightly as they walked on into the entrance hall.

As they entered the great doors, they saw something new in front of them. A large panel of black marble laid into the floor. Inscribed into the surface of the stone were words;

Hogwarts:

United as one

Defeated by none

The battle of Hogwarts: May 1998

'Lest we forget.'

It was a simple yet moving tribute. Harry felt the tears well in his eyes, but did nothing to stop them. Ginny also cried at the sight. Around the words, were the names of the dead, those who had died in defence of the castle were immortalised here on the stone.

Harry's eyes scanned the list, stopping at each name he recognised. In his head flashed memories of the person. Lupin teaching him how to defend against a dementor, Fred showing him the marauders map with George, Tonks changing her nose shape to make everyone laugh at dinner. At this he suddenly thought of Teddy, having to grow up without his parents. Harry felt sick. He remembered what that felt like and remembered that he had sworn not to let Teddy go through the same thing.

He knew that teddy was with his grandmother, but knew that he wanted to do his bit as a responsible god father.

"I'm going to be the godfather Sirius always wanted to be!" he said to no-one in particular.

All around the school were little plaques and stones, recording someone's memories of the battle, designed to make sure no-one ever forgot what had happened within these grounds.

Harry and Ginny walked around the castle, looking at the repairs with Hagrid as their guide, until they spotted Professor McGonagall at the end of the corridor, restoring the stone gargoyle to its rightful position in front of the entrance to the heads study.

She turned round and spotted the three of them approaching and allowed a tired smile to cross her face.

"Hello you two," she croaked to Harry and Ginny, "I didn't expect to see you two back for a while. Term doesn't start until September you know!"

"We just wanted to take a look" said Harry with a slight look of guilt on his face. They were both stood there in their finest clothes and McGonagall looked at them with interest.

"Well I'm glad to see our new Head Boy and Girl have a good dress sense!" Both Harry and Ginny looked at each other before Ginny turned back to McGonagall and said,

"But Harry is too old for school now, He missed his final year."

"It's the headmaster's, or Headmistresses in my case, prerogative to extend the permitted age range if he or she wishes. And I wish it!" stated McGonagall. "You will of course be sharing this honour with a number of other students, but I'm sure you won't object to this will you?"

Harry shook his head before allowing himself to smile.

"Now if you don't mind I've a lot of work to do, you can see yourselves out can't you?"

Having been dismissed the two of them walked slowly back out of the castle and this time up to the main gates and out towards Hogsmeade.

Harry's head was spinning, he couldn't believe it, he was going back to Hogwarts for another year. He felt so excited, he could hardly contain it. He turned to Ginny and scooped her up in his arms and kissed her.

"What was that for?" she asked after returning his kiss.

"For being my head girl of course" he replied and kissed her again.

Ginny felt the now familiar sensation of apparition as Harry kissed her even harder.

When she opened her eyes they were back in the room at the leaky cauldron. Harry held her in his arms and kissed her neck slowly and lovingly.

"That was a perfect first date!" Ginny purred in his ear between gasps.

Harry kissed her a final time before pulling away to say goodnight.

"It's not over yet," she growled gently and slowly pulled him a step towards the huge four poster bed.

"You don't think this is moving a little bit too fast?" he asked, a note of concern in his voice as she nibbled at his lower lip.

Ginny said nothing, but simply shook her head. She just needed to be with him right now and pushed his new dress robes off his shoulders and started to remove his shirt. She stopped briefly as Harry nervously slid the straps of her dress off her shoulders. She shrugged her shoulders once and allowed the beautiful dress to fall onto the floor around her feet. She stepped backwards away from Harry and lay back on the bed. Her arms reached up for Harry and pulled him on top of her.

"I love you Harry James Potter!" she whispered.

"I truly, madly and deeply love you too Ginevra Molly Weasley." Harry breathed as he lay on top of her, touching her lips with his own "My perfect head Girl!"

A/N: And there you have it, their first proper date and our first glimpse of Hogwarts after the battle. I hope you liked my ideas

Please excuse any spelling mistakes or typing errors I may make. I'm proof reading all my own work, but it is inevitable that I may make one or two omissions.

I didn't want to go over the top with anything at this stage. Just sew the seeds for later in the story. I know some people think that maybe the Harry/Ginny storyline is moving a bit too fast, I'm not too worried as they have spent a lot of time together already and have grown up a lot in a short space of time, I also think they are simply the perfect couple! I trust that they are a couple that love and respect each other, and they will be together forever. Besides, I havn't said if anything actually happens! lol

I got my idea for the wine from the potion Slughorn had brewed in HBP, instead of being a love potion to make you fall in love, I decided to make it a wine for people who already have fallen in love naturally and that can't be drunk by anyone other than people who are in love! I let Harry come out with that bit as it's his own round about way of declaring to Ginny that he really does love her. I don't think he is a very forward person and I thought it would work better than just coming out and saying it. Let me know what you guys think. I love receiving your reviews.

_Next chapter, a slight change in the story line and a bit for all you Ron / Hermione lovers, will be "A Weasley Down-Under!"_


	5. Chapter 5 A Weasley Down Under

Chapter 5 – A Weasley Down-under 

Ron was grumbling. He always grumbled. First he was hungry, then he was cold, now he was grumbling because he was wet. How does anyone put up with him? Hermione was being subjected to another tirade of moans and groans, as they walked past a number of high-rise apartment blocks.

"Remind me again, why you insisted on coming with me?" she said with slightly more venom than she had intended.

Ron grumbled something indistinct about taking care and not going alone, before taking up his previous complaint of being cold.

"You know you really didn't have to come just to keep me company. I'm perfectly capable to taking care of myself!" she continued, ignoring his words.

Ron turned a slightly darker shade of pink but stopped speaking. His face twitched an apology, which went unnoticed as he was hit by a fresh pelt of rain.

"I thought Australia was supposed to be hot!" Ron muttered, but tailed off when he saw the look on Hermione's face.

"Ron, In Australia, June is Winter!"

Ron's face flushed again, as he tried to hide his ignorance.

"Right, I think this is the one!" Hermione announced looking from the sodden piece of paper in her hand to the huge apartment block in front of them.

Ron rushed to the door and pulled it open for her. Holding it until she had passed through. She smiled at him in mock surprise of this sudden and unexpected act of gallantry.

After a brief ride in the lift, where Ron asked hundreds of questions about the way lifts worked in the muggle world, they arrived on a quiet but tidy landing.

Again consulting the wet piece of paper in her hand, Hermione set off down the corridor checking apartment numbers until she found the one she was looking for.

"Will they know who you are…I mean will they know you're their daughter?" asked Ron, looking puzzled.

"No. If I performed the charm correctly they won't remember me at all. It's going to be tricky removing it without them wondering what we're up to, but we should manage it ok."

"What do you mean 'We'? I don't know what to do, what AM I supposed to do?"

"You've got the easy bit, you've just got to distract them, you know keep them talking…"

"What do I talk about to your parents? I don't know what I'm supposed to say!"

"You'll think of something," said Hermione looking a little exasperated, "I'm sure you'll be fine. Just be careful when I lift the charm, they might be a bit erm…confused."

Ron looked a little pale at this comment, Hermione could tell that he was worried about the whole affair. What if something went wrong?

She raised her hand to the bell push screwed to the door and rang the bell once.

The apartment seemed silent. No-one stirred, not a sound was made. Hermione shot Ron a worried look and rang the bell again. This time a muffled bumping clattering noise came from within the apartment, followed by an equally muffled swearing. A door somewhere slammed shut and footsteps approached the door. The door opened slowly and a middle aged woman poked her head around the door to look out at the visitors.

"Yes?" enquired the head

"Erm…" replied Hermione, "…I…erm…we…"

"What is it? Come on, I've not got all day you know!"

Hermione was clearly not expecting this sort of welcome from her own mother after so long of being away, but then remembered that she wouldn't recognise her.

Hermione's mother shuffled on the spot impatiently, in doing this she showed the right side of her body through the crack in the door, which had previously only exposed her head. She was wearing a white cotton dressing gown and was standing with bare feet. Her appearance seemed to distract Hermione, who was now wondering what her mother had been doing before answering the door.

Ron stepped in front and took the lead.

"We're sorry to interrupt you, but we're from the university down the road, and we were hoping to ask you a few questions as part of our research into local housing and immigration. Do you mind if we come in?"

Mrs Granger looked a little bit taken aback by this approach, Hermione however looked completely surprised, Ron had never seemed to be this inventive before.

"Well…err…I've only just got…I mean we were in…erm…"

"We will only take a minute or so of your time madam." Added Ron in an attempt to settle the issue.

"Erm…I suppose if it's only for a minute." Said Mrs Granger, starting to look a little embarrassed.

Strangely Hermione also seemed to look a little embarrassed as she crossed the threshold into the Grangers Apartment.

"Please excuse the mess, began Mrs Granger, "We were…I mean…it was a late night last night."

A door leading off from the main living area was slightly ajar and Ron noticed through the gap that it seemed to lead into a bedroom area. As Ron's gaze strayed into the room, the door was opened and a man, Ron supposed to be Mr Granger walked through the door and into the living area. Ron's head snapped back, to look straight ahead as he suddenly realised what the two of them had just interrupted.

Mr Granger was also wearing a white dressing gown and had nothing on his feet. Ron looked to Hermione to see that she was looking even more acutely embarrassed, clearly having come to the same conclusion as Ron.

"Erm, do you mind if my companion takes a look around for a moment?" asked Ron, still somewhat distracted by the appearance of Hermione's father.

It was Mr Granger who replied happily calling "Sure, no problem. What did you kids want again?"

"They're carrying out research honey."

"Oh right, from the university? We don't have any children yet, but I'm sure if we do that they would go to that University some day." Said Mr Granger, coming to sit beside his wife.

Hermione was pretending to look around the room behind the Granger's seat while they both chatted to Ron, who was quickly running out of ideas.

"Erm…great…yeah, um" Ron was starting to sound like Hermione had. They needed to act quickly. Hermione drew her wand from the pocket in her trousers and pointed it at her parents. They both took on a sort of vacant expression for a moment or two before Mr Granger blinked and suddenly looked alarmed.

"Who are you?" he demanded looking fiercely at Ron, who promptly turned a very pale colour and jumped almost out of his seat. "Where's my daughter? What's going on here?"

Hermione squealed and ran round the sofa to embrace her parents. Ron allowed his face to relax a little and he gained a little colour back in his cheeks.

Hermione launched herself into a detailed account of what had happened over the last year, aided in places by Ron. Her parents just sat and listened, occasionally gasping when Hermione told them of one of their close shaves, and her mother crying when she heard about Bellatrix's torture of her daughter.

When they finished their story both of them were dragged into a full hug, nearly crushing the life from them.

When Ron eventually regained his breath Mr Granger turned to look at him.

"You must really care for our daughter if you went through all that just to protect her."

Ron's ears turned pink and the rest of his face threatened to follow suit, until Hermione spoke up and added,

"Ron was wonderful. We couldn't have done it without him!" She looked at him and saw the look she gave was returned in exactly the same way. She looked away quickly, embarrassed that after all they had been through together, she simply couldn't bring herself to really say how she felt about him.

But there would be plenty of time to think about that once they had got home, she thought. Why think about it right now? She carefully put her feelings for Ron at the back of her mind and returned her attention to her parents, who were starting to fill them in with what they had been doing since moving to Australia.

The story felt to them like it was a memory, watched through someone else's eyes. They had gone by different names, started a new life and made new friends. They could remember everything so clearly but it was not their life.

"It's like watching someone else live a life on a TV screen".

Ron didn't really understand this statement, having never watched TV. Hermione though felt a sudden wave of guilt. She had forced this upon them and was now expecting them to leave this new life they had forged, and return to the old one, as if nothing had ever happened. What were they supposed to say to everyone when they asked where they had been for the last year?

She felt sick. She knew they were safe, unharmed and that they had never been found by a single death eater. But who was she to decide their lives like that?

Hermione's parents did not think the same way. They both insisted that she had done the right thing, and both agreed that the best thing to do now was to pack up and move back home.

"We didn't make too many friends anyway. Only a batty old lady down the hall who keeps a lot of cats." Her Mother said finally.

Ron sniggered slightly, remembering Harry's tales of a childhood being babysat by Mrs Figg. This lady down the hall sounded exactly like her.

Hermione gave Ron a look that stopped his sniggering instantly. Hermione had a cat too after all.

The rest of the day was spent packing up those few belongings that Hermione's parents didn't want to leave behind. Mr Granger offered to take Ron for a drink, while the women finished packing. Ron looked to Hermione, unsure, seeking her approval. She nodded and Ron put on his coat.

Once the two men had left the women relaxed slightly, allowing themselves a break for a coffee and a chat.

Hermione's mother fussed over her only daughter, marvelling at how much she had grown up and how she was turning into a fine young woman. Hermione blushed at this, but blushed even deeper when her mother mentioned Ron.

"So how long have you two actually been seeing each other then?"

Hermione almost dropped her coffee as she spluttered "We're not…I mean…I haven't…erm…" Her face was flushed a deep red in embarrassment. She quickly changed the subject, "Are you hungry? I saw a nice looking Deli just down the road, why don't I pop out and fetch something for dinner?" and with that she stood up and shot out the door, her hair flailing behind her as she left.

Her mother stared at the door, astonished by the speed at which her daughter had just left. All because of a boy, she thought to herself and allowed a crooked smile to cross her face.

A short while later Ron reappeared with Mr Granger looking as though he had just been through the Spanish inquisition. He walked back in looking hopeful for a sight of Hermione, but was disappointed when he saw she was not in the room.

Mrs Granger saw his look and told him,

"She's just popped out to get some dinner, she won't be long."

Ron looked positively alarmed. His mouth dropped open and his face lost all colour instantly.

"Is she mad? We're not supposed to go out on our own if we're in another country! We're not really supposed to be here! AND there are still Death Eaters on the loose, most of them have gone abroad to avoid the ministry!" He made a movement towards the door and in a second was through it and running down the hall.

He ran down the stairs, ignoring the lifts, taking the steps three at a time. As he left the front of the building he began looking around in panic, he hadn't even bothered to ask where she had gone. He started to shout her name desperately and made to run down the street. He stopped dead in his tracks however as he turned and nearly knocked over a brown haired girl carrying two large paper bags full of food.

"Hermione!" cried Ron as he bent down to help her to her feet. "What were you thinking, going out on you own…Anything could have…I was so…your mum said…I…Thank Merlin you're safe!"

With that he threw his arms around her and kissed her briefly. Hermione dropped the bags she was carrying and closed her eyes as his lips met hers. Ron quickly pulled away as if he had been stung. He looked extremely embarrassed. He took out his wand and pointed it at the bags of shopping Hermione had dropped. Both bags had torn open and had spilled their contents over the floor. Ron muttered an incantation under his breath and both bags repaired themselves and the contents jumped back into place.

"Sorry, don't know what…" he began, but tailed off as he took hold of one of the bags and turned to walk back into the apartment block. Hermione looked at his back as he walked away and just sighed before following. Men could be so infuriating at times!

The pair of eyes that had been watching them from across the street blinked twice, narrowed, and the owner took a step further into the shadows ensuring that they couldn't be seen, he leaned against the wall to watch the couple return to the building. They would have to come out again sooner or later!

Mrs Granger prepared a quick lunch for them and they sat down together to eat, all ready for the off.

Ron ate hungrily as usual, but would not look at Hermione. Her Mother turned her gaze to her and raised her eyebrows at this, and Hermione rolled her eyes in response. Men!

Ron quickly finished his dinner, ramming the last scraps into his mouth before muttering that he was going out to find a suitable place from which to take a portkey home. Hermione made a protest at his wish to go alone but Ron turned on her with a look of annoyance,

"You were ok on your own, so I'm sure I will be fine too!"

He walked out of the door and down the stairs without another word.

In the shadows the pair of eyes watched Ron walk out of the apartment block and out into the street. The owner grinned and keeping to the shadows set of down the street, following him.

Ron walked a few metres then rounded the corner to find a dark quiet alley. Perfect to avoid being spotted he thought. So too thought the stranger who followed him into the alley.

"You're a funny one aren't you?" the stranger said, startling Ron. "You can do funny things can't you? Make things happen, you know…I saw you in the street before…FREAK!" the man screamed this last word at the top of his voice, spittle flying from his mouth, his eyes wide.

Ron reached for the wand in his pocket, but the stranger was too fast, his hand appeared holding a gun, there was a loud bang and Ron's world went black.

_A/N: Blimey. I found this chapter quite difficult to write and this must be about the fourth re-write. Sorry to leave you on such a cliffhanger, but it's the perfect place to have one. This idea is loosely based on JKR's ideas of Muggles being frightened of magic and their frequent violent reactions to it. Let me know what you all think of this storyline. I know it may not be popular with everyone, but keep reading, the story will unfold quite interestingly! Please leave me feedback, I'm interested in your thoughts as usual! Thanks for reading._


	6. Chapter 6 Magic & The Muggle

Chapter 6 – Magic and the Muggle 

Pain! Blinding, red-hot, searing pain. All Ron could feel was pain! His vision was completely black, he blinked wildly trying to see something, anything but still couldn't see. He groped around in the darkness, feeling the ground around himself, he had fallen to the floor, landing hard flat on his back. Pain was shooting all the way up his body, but was worse in his head. He tried to sit up but another stab of pain, this time from the back of his skull forced him off balance and he slumped blindly back to the floor. His vision popped and flashed white then black. Slowly a picture was forming, the picture became grey and fuzzy. He closed his eyes. His hearing seemed to be faulty as he could hear nothing but an echo of the loud bang that had brought him to the floor. He tried to sit up again, but this time a small hand on his chest pushed him gently back to the floor. Instead of the cold hard concrete he felt something soft underneath his pounding head. A very faint, fuzzy voice said,

"Lie down, just rest a minute while I sort you out."

Ron fumbled for his wand, but the voice sounded more reassuring than threatening.

"Don't worry, I'll do it, you're going to be fine!"

Ron let his hand relax and felt a warm, pleasant sensation on the side of his head. The voice was growing clearer, less muffled, he heard a girl's voice muttering, singing almost. They were words he didn't recognise, but could tell from their sound that it was an incantation of some kind.

He felt another strange sensation as if his face was being cleaned for him. He opened his eyes again to try to see what was going on, this time his sight seemed to have improved a great deal. His vision popped white and bright for a second or two before his surroundings came properly into focus.

Hermione was kneeling next to him, quietly reciting her incantations, while pointing her wand at his head. He felt the peculiar warm feeling again but didn't dare move his head in case he spoilt her concentration. He swivelled his eyes in their sockets, he could just about see her on the edge of his vision. She knelt there a look of fierce concentration on her face, tears streaming down her face.

"'Mione?" he croaked

Her eyes opened wide and she stopped what she was doing.

"Ron, oh my god RON!" she dropped her wand and flung her arms around him as he tried to sit up. "Ron, oh Ron. I didn't know if I could do it, it's a really difficult spell, I'm so sorry, I'm…oh Ron!" she burst into another fit of tears, hugging him and sobbing into the shoulder of his jacket.

Hermione helped Ron to his feet, wrapping both arms around him in an effort to hold him upright.

"Just hold on for a moment." She warned, he felt as if strong iron bands were constricting his airway, crushing his chest and forcing the life out of him. He could hardly breathe, it was like being forced through a piece of rubber hose. Ron cried out in pain, but as suddenly as it had started the bands disappeared and the sensation went away. Unfortunately the pain did not.

"I'm so sorry," said Hermione helping him over to the sofa so that he could sit down. "I had to get you back to the apartment as soon as possible. There are Muggles everywhere out there. They wanted to know what was going on. What happened out there?"

Ron closed his eyes and thought hard. It made his head hurt even more.

"Muggle I think, with a gun, I think he shot me!"

The Grangers looked at each other worried, Hermione took his hand tenderly in hers,

"Did you see them? What did they look like?"

"Well it was a man, he looked really scruffy. I can't remember much, just that his hair was really messy and he hardly had any teeth. He grinned at me before I blacked out. That's all!"

"You were lucky. I don't think he knew what he was doing really, the bullet seems to just have grazed your skull, it bleeds really badly and it will hurt really badly too, but I think you're going to be ok!"

Mrs Granger took a step forwards and sat next to her daughter, who was still holding Ron's hand.

"You should call the police! You can't let him get away with this!"

"Mum, Ron's a wizard and I'm a Witch. How would it look if two people, who shouldn't even be in the country, turn up at a police station, claiming one of us has been shot, but not having any gunshot wounds to show for it?"

Mrs Granger nodded and fell silent but looked worried still.

"Surely there's something you can do though?" asked Mr Granger.

"Well I suppose we could contact the Australian Ministry of Magic!" croaked Ron, thinking hard. "Percy worked with them at one point when he was with the Department for International Magical Co-operation." He closed his eyes again, thinking about what Percy had told him before they had left the Burrow. " We need to send a message to the ministry!"

"But we don't have an owl to send our message with!" exclaimed Hermione.

"We might not need one, can you send a message with your patronus?" Ron ventured.

Hermione nodded and drew her wand. "Expecto Patronum!" she said, her bright silver Otter patronus emerged from the tip of her wand. The otter looked directly at Hermione, who stared back at it for a few seconds, before it turned away and disappeared out of the window.

About twenty minutes later an owl landed on the window ledge and tapped on the glass with its beak. Hermione rushed over to the window and opened it to let the bird in.

The owl, a large snowy owl, rather like Harry's had been, stood proudly on the chair arm it had flown to and held out its leg. A scroll of parchment was attached with a rather ornate wax seal holding the scroll together. Hermione opened the scroll and read;

Dear Miss Granger,

We received your patronus and have dispatched a Ministry official to apprehend the muggle in question. Please could you and Mr Weasley apparate to the ministry visitor's centre to attend his trial.

Yours in Magic,

Shane MacGovan

Magical Law Enforcement

"Trial?" repeated Hermione slightly astonished, "Isn't that all a bit quick?"

"Quick, that's good isn't it? It means they will get the git that did this to me. He deserves it!"

"Deserves what though? What will they do to him?"

Ron thought about this for a moment then shrugged,

"Does it matter? He tried to kill me and that's unforgivable."

Hermione decided to let the matter drop and held her arm out to Ron, who slipped his own arm under hers and hugged her.

The Australian Ministry's visitor's entrance was a grand display of money and power. Both Ron and Hermione were reminded strongly of the way the British Ministry atrium had appeared, when they broke in during the war. From the outside, the building seemed to look like an old disused factory, but inside the appearance was much different. Tall columns of golden stone supported the ceiling, which much like the great hall at Hogwarts, was bewitched to look like the sky outside. The floors were made of light coloured marble, polished to shine like a mirror. The place looked like an ancient Greek villa in its prime, bright and magnificent.

The entrance hall was largely empty except for a number of markings on the floor, which changed from green to red as someone apparated into them, then back to green indicating the area was safe to use again.

At the far end of the entrance hall were a number of railway-type turnstiles, strangely positioned against a blank wall. Along the line signs hung, denoting the different ministry departments and under each sign sat a different colour turnstile.

Ron watched with interest as one-by-one the ministry workers walked through the turnstiles and magically disappeared, obviously whisked away to their respective workplaces. This was much different to the visits he had made with his father.

Hermione spotted a sign announcing 'Visitors' and led Ron towards a huge marble platform, raised a few steps above the rest of the hall, on which stood a reception desk.

Behind the desk sat three tall, elegant looking witches, all wearing matching robes and hairstyles. Hermione smirked as she noticed that all three had identical white-blonde hair. Veela!

Ron appeared to be sweating slightly as he approached the desk. He clutched Hermione's hand and looked at her. Apparently he had realised what they were too!

"Don't worry I'll do the talking!" she reassured him.

They walked up to the desk where the central Veela looked up and smiled.

"Good Morning," said Hermione, "Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, we're here to attend a trial!"

The Veela said nothing, but looked down at a scroll of parchment, checked their names, pointed her wand at two blank looking badges and handed them over the desk to them. Both badges now read;

'Witness - Attempted Murder

Anti-Muggle Courtroom 3

Yellow line'

Hermione took the badges and looked down to the floor. A dashed yellow line had appeared, slowly moving along the floor. She supposed they should follow and turned to follow pulling Ron after her. Ron didn't seem to want to come, he was still staring at the three mute Veela, he seemed lost in a trance. Hermione pulled at his arm harder. He whispered "Thanks" and followed, sighing.

They followed the yellow line to a puce coloured turnstile, the sign hanging above read 'Courtrooms 1 – 8, Anti-Muggle.'

"Why does everything seem to say 'Anti-Muggle'?" asked Hermione, of no one in particular.

Ron didn't say anything but took a step forward towards the turnstile. As he stepped through it he felt the familiar sensation of a portkey, as if someone had hooked him behind his navel and was pulling him along. He landed on his feet in a dark wood panelled corridor. Hermione landed a second later behind him.

The corridor had a definite feeling of gloom to it, almost as if no one had ever laughed here. Ron Shuddered.

The Dashed yellow line reappeared on the floor and started to move once more down the corridor. The two of them followed along the corridor, passing a couple of doors as they went. Each door had a sign on the outside that read;

'Anti-Muggle Trial in Progress

Quiet Please.'

Hermione looked at Ron again, looking gloomier than ever, whatever went on down here, it didn't look good.

The yellow line turned a corner and headed towards a set of double doors, that were propped open. A sign above the door indicated that this was Courtroom 3.

A court official met them outside the door and scanned their badges with his wand.

"Witnesses for the prosecution please sit on the red area to the left." He announced and ushered them through the door.

The courtroom was huge. The four walls of the court were lined with seats, three rows deep and each rose slightly above the previous, providing almost arena type seating.

The centre of the room consisted of a raised circular podium, perched on the podium was a large circular desk, which had a hole in the middle, making it look like a large wooden doughnut. The desk had no seats around it but had a single, high backed swivel chair in the centre.

Arranged around the podium were five, small identical witness boxes, one of which had tall black bars around it. This one was obviously reserved for the accused.

Ron and Hermione sat down in the red-seated area to the left of the courtroom door. They both looked around and saw that most of the courtroom was comprised of these red seats, with a very small section of green, which Hermione rightly supposed were reserved for the defence.

Apart from the two of them the room was mostly empty. There was an old short balding wizard with a dark sun tan sat on a red seat a few metres to the left of them, and a tall but sickly looking wizard sat on his own in the centre of the green seats.

The courtroom doors slammed shut with a loud bang, as the court official walked in. He walked slowly and steadily down the stairs and onto the floor leading towards the centre of the room. He took up post behind a small table and chair that appeared to have just been placed beside the centre podium. Neither Ron nor Hermione had spotted it before. He took out a long blank scroll of parchment and an acid green quill, preparing to take notes. The official cleared his throat and announced;

"His honour presiding this hearing will be Dr Martin Wilberforce-Jones," There was a loud crack as a Wizard dressed in dark crimson red, appeared sitting in the chair in the centre of the podium. He seemed young for this job, barely out of his thirties, and had a face that showed much dislike and mistrust of anything that surrounded him.

"The accused MUGGLE will be brought in." The courtroom doors opened and the unkempt looking Muggle who had tried to shoot Ron was dragged carelessly across the room and into the dock, firmly held in place by two wizards dressed in dark red robes.

The man looked wilder than ever, he was shouting and fighting against the restraining wizards flanking him. The court judge seemed even more disgusted with his actions than of anything else in the room and pointed his wand at him.

"Petrificus Totalus" he cried, in a strangely high-pitched voice.

The Muggle immediately stopped fighting and stood quite still and silent.

The Court official took over proceedings.

"Council for the defence, your client stands accused of attempted murder of a Wizard. How does he plead?"

The sickly looking wizard unfolded slightly from his seat and wheezed,

"Not Guilty." He said in a voice that belied his own opinion.

"Council for the prosecution, you may present your evidence." Continued the court official, sounding thoroughly bored.

The short balding wizard stood from his seat and beckoned for Ron to come closer. Nervously Ron got to his feet and took a few steps towards the man. He raised his wand to Ron's temple and slowly extracted a thin, silvery gossamer strand of memory, and dropped it into a small stone bowl he had produced in his other hand. He turned and walked with the bowl towards one of the witness stands. Ron watched in mute astonishment as the bowl was placed carefully on a stand in the witness box. As the balding wizard left the box, a three-dimensional scene rose from the witness box. Ron was watching the events of this morning, play out in front of him. He flinched when he heard the gunshot and stared wide eyed as his body fell to the ground and everything went black.

The scene fell back into the stone basin. The prosecutor then walked to the immobile muggle and extracted another memory. Placing it carefully in a second bowl, walking with this one to a second witness box.

Ron now watched the same scene through the eyes of his muggle attacker. He saw himself running out of the apartment block, in search of Hermione, he saw them nearly bump into each other and the bags fall to the ground. What he saw next worried him greatly.

He watched as the image of himself used magic to help Hermione. He saw himself repair the bags in broad daylight and in the open muggle street. He felt his stomach sink.

The memory moved on and he saw himself come back out of the apartment, and walk to the dark alley, looking for somewhere for Hermione to set-up a portkey home.

He watched as the muggle followed him into the alley, and heard his screams of accusation. The muggle was rightly afraid of him, Ron HAD performed magic in public, a scary enough thought for many muggles, but that didn't excuse the attempt the muggle had made on his life.

Ron fell to the ground and the muggle fled. He ran as fast as he could back into the street and crossed the road, ducking into another equally dark alley.

The man was running so fast he didn't notice the two uniformed wizards waiting for him at the end of the alley. They both raised their wands and the scene went black, dropping back into the stone basin.

Without speaking the prosecutor walked back to his seat and sat down.

The court was strangely silent. The court judge seemed to be deeply in thought. He sat in his chair staring at the witness box he had just been watching. He raised his hand and scratched his chin in thought.

Finally he turned his chair to face the Muggle, still frozen to the spot, with his red robed guards close by.

"Does the council for the defence have anything to add to the evidence shown already?" asked the court official.

The defence simply shook his head, clearly wanting the trial over.

The court judge leaned forward in his chair, still facing the Muggle,

"Muggle, by your own evidence you have been found guilty of the crime for which you are accused. The punishment for this crime is clear. You will be taken from this place to the Wizarding prison at Alice Springs. There your memories of all other events in your life will be removed. You will be left with just the memory of this event, until the day you are dead, which I trust will not be long coming." The judge leered at his sentence and turned his head to the guard, with a flick of his wand he said, "You may remove the condemned."

Hermione was horrified by the sentence, she leapt to her feet and shouted at the judge,

"You CAN'T do that! It's inhuman, you're as good as killing him!"

The judge turned to look at her a look of curiosity on his face,

"Miss Granger? You called for our assistance didn't you?"

She nodded, her body shaking with the shock of what she had condemned this man to.

"Would you rather he had killed your boyfriend?"

Hermione shook her head, Ron turned to look at her, and she had not corrected the judge by saying that he was not her boyfriend.

"Then why do you dispute our laws? This is not your country, we know how Muggle scum like these should be treated."

"How can you call them that? They're not scum, they should be treated to a fair trial and sentence, like any other muggle!"

"And have them all laughing at us in a muggle prison, spreading our secrets. NO Miss Granger, these muggles must not be allowed to live, knowing what they can do to our kind. We will not tolerate it! I suggest you take your boyfriend and your filthy Muggle parents and go home, before we have reason to have you arrested too."

Hermione looked close to tears. Ron rushed to support her. He felt aggravated that she had almost defended his attacker, but could see that this was a society, so corrupt and brainwashed into 'Anti-Muggleism' that it was dangerous. The laws here seemed to be so close to being Voldemort's ideas, his ideal, his dream. How could it be that even though Harry had defeated him, whole countries could behave just like him? Ron felt sick.

"Let's get out of here." He said to Hermione, taking her arm to lead her out of the courtroom.

The Judge called across to him however.

"Mr Weasley, you used magic in front of a muggle. That is a terrible offence I'm sure you are aware?"

Ron didn't look back, he just continued to walk swiftly towards the door.

"MR WEASLEY…" the judge shouted, louder this time.

Ron and Hermione broke into a run.

"STOP THEM…" he yelled. Two guards appeared either side of the courtroom doors.

"Stupefy!" yelled Ron and Hermione together, aiming their wands at the guards. Both fell backwards as Ron and Hermione ran out of the door and into the corridor. They turned and ran as fast as they could to the point where they had entered. There was a door, marked exit that Ron reached first. He heaved it open and fell forwards, Hermione following. They were both pulled forwards, the hook-like feeling behind their navels and reappeared in the ministry lobby. Guards were running towards them, wands drawn as Ron and Hermione ran towards one of the apparition squares. As they approached the first, it turned red and another guard appeared in front of them. Ron swerved violently to his right, grabbing hold of Hermione as he went. He pulled her into the next square, turned and disapparated.

Back at the apartment, Hermione grabbed her things. Told her parents to do the same. When they all returned holding their bags, ready to leave, Hermione picked up the waste paper bin.

"Portus." She said, touching the bin with the tip of her wand.

"Will this work for muggles?" asked Ron.

"Yeah, just hold their hand when you touch the portkey."

The door to the apartment was blown off its hinges as guards in red robes swarmed into the room.

The bin glowed bright, and Ron, Hermione and her parents were pulled off-balance, the tugging behind their navels signifying they were on their way home.

"We're back! We made it!" cried Mrs Granger as she landed outside her house. She took her husband by the hand and ran towards their home.

Hermione took Ron's hand and turned to look at him. His face was flushed and he shook his head.

"Mental!" he whispered, "Just Mental!"

Hermione laughed at him and pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around him and looking up into his face. Ron didn't need asking twice, he leaned in and kissed her passionately.

"Welcome home!" he said.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I thought the last one was quite hard to write, but I enjoyed this one more. I thought it would be interesting to take an insight into how other countries could handle ideas like Voldemort's. I decided it might be fun to throw in this little bit of excitement too. What do you think? Are they both in the clear yet? Maybe not?


	7. Chapter 7 The Interview

Chapter 7 – The Interview 

Harry walked across the room at the Leaky Cauldron, and picked up his jeans. He looked down at them as he pulled them on, thinking it was about time he got a new pair. These were starting to look very threadbare. That didn't matter though because Ginny loved him! He grinned childishly. He picked up his glasses tee-shirt and again noted that it too had seen better days. That didn't matter either he thought, because Ginny Loved him. He turned round to see the reason he was so happy.

Ginny was sat at the dressing table wearing just her underwear, looking in the mirror to brush her hair. She caught sight of him in the mirror looking at her and smiled as she started to sing. Harry had never heard her sing before and just at that moment decided that he was even more in love with her than ever before. He walked across the room to stand behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. She stopped singing as he massaged her neck and back.

"Don't stop," he said, "That was beautiful!"

"It was only a nursery rhyme my mum used to sing to me when I was little."

Harry who had never been sung a nursery rhyme begged her to sing some more. Seeing the look in his eyes, Ginny started to sing again, this time as If he were the infant, and she was singing it to him.

Harry closed his eyes and thought back into deep, long forgotten memories, of a red haired woman, holding him in her arms and signing to him, these words In fact. When he opened his eyes he was surprised to feel a tear welling.

"I think my mum used to sing this to me!" he whispered, as Ginny stroked his hair.

"How do you know? I didn't think you could remember anything from back then?"

"I remember bits, you now this and that. Not much though…" he sounded sad, lost in memories, Ginny ran her fingers through his hair again, loving the feeling, and mesmerized by the colour. She just loved his hair!

After a while the two of them finished dressing and went downstairs for breakfast.

Tom the barman was waiting for them and seemed to hang on Harry's every word. After a brief conversation he showed them to a free table and brought over a pile of toast, two cups and a teapot.

After a short but pleasant breakfast Harry and Ginny returned to their room to collect their things before leaving for the Burrow.

"Do we have to go straight back?" asked Ginny. She looked a little sad that their time together on their own was coming to a close. Soon they would be back to snatching private moments together on the stairs, or in the garden. It was so infuriating she thought.

"I don't want to get told off by your mum!" Harry commented, seeing the look of disappointment on her face. "Don't worry, we'll get plenty of chances to be on our own again soon."

The rest of the week passed quite quickly. Much to Ginny's disappointment she got very little time to herself with Harry. Her mum kept popping up whenever they were alone, giving them various jobs to do around the house. Harry was disappointed too, but tried not to show it. "After all," he had said during washing up one day, "I'm still the guest here!" Ginny prompted the dishes to start cleaning themselves and then put her wand on the side, before turning and flinging soap suds straight at Harry.

Harry wasn't expecting this and they hit him full on in the face, making streaks on his glasses so he couldn't see. Ginny took full advantage of his blurred vision and ran across the kitchen to sneak up on him from behind.

"Oh very funny!" he said, blindly wandering around the place looking for her with his arms outstretched. "You know you're going to pay for that!"

"Really?" she asked from behind him as she pounced on him, leaping onto his back, her arms wrapped round his neck and her legs around his waist. Harry tried to shake her off but she just giggled and held on tighter,

"Come on, you can do better than this!" she teased, as he tried to shake her off again.

Harry's hands reached round his back and caught hold of her exposed waist. He tickled her with his fingers and she screamed out.

"No! No! Don't!" she giggled again and nearly fell from his back. "Ok, I give in, you can put me down now!"

Harry walked over to the kitchen table and crouched down so that se could slide off his back to sit on the table top. As soon as she let go he turned to face her, looking very serious.

"I said I was going to get you back for that!" he said, as he leaned towards her, holding her face in his hands he tilted his head to one side and kissed her passionately. She melted at his kiss and raised her legs to wrap them round him.

"Hem hem." said a voice from the doorway.

Harry looked up and saw Mrs Weasley looking at the two of them. Harry backed away sheepishly as Ginny groaned "Muuum!"

"Are those dishes finished yet?" she said, striding into the room. "Harry dear, are you all set for your interview tomorrow?"

Harry looked startled and looked at Ginny. The week had flown past so quickly that he had forgotten that he was supposed to be giving his interview at the ministry the following day.

"Make sure you're nice and smart won't you? I suspect there will be a photographer there too!"

Harry's heart sank slightly. It seemed every encounter he had with a photographer he always came out looking stupid. The thought of another photograph like the others didn't exactly fill him with joy.

Ginny led him upstairs to try and dig out something smart for him to wear.

Unfortunately Harry's wardrobe selection had always been a little limited. He had his collection of Dudley's old hand-me-down muggle clothes, his school robes and his set of dress robe he had worn to the Yule ball. Of course he had the clothes he had worn with Ginny on their date earlier in the week, but he wanted to keep them for special occasions, as did Ginny with her dress.

"Looks like we're going to have to go shopping!" said Ginny, sounding quite excited. It meant they might actually get some more time together alone. Harry Grinned at her, having the same thought.

"Diagon Alley?" asked Harry.

Ginny nodded and they made their way downstairs to the kitchen fire.

They quickly made their excuses to Mrs Weasley and stepped into the fire.

Madam Malkin's was the quietest Harry had ever seen it, after all he usually went into the shop to get his school robes along with every other Hogwarts student, just weeks before term.

The lack of customers gave Harry and Ginny a good chance to take a look around the racks of different robes.

Ginny found a very smart set of robes in a dark purple. Harry looked impressed at her taste in clothes, as she picked out another set of robes, this time in dark bottle green. These were a little more flamboyant in style, Ginny assured him that they were the height of fashion.

Harry admitted that he would have to trust her judgement, as he didn't really know the first thing about wizard fashion.

"You did a pretty good job in picking out your clothes for the other night!" she said honestly.

"I did have some help though. I couldn't choose on my own!"

Ginny smirked and went back to the rails, picking out another set, these ones in crimson, and a fourth in black. Harry took them to the fitting rooms and left Ginny to wait in the main area of the shop. She idly browsed through the Witches robes, sighing as she looked at the price tags. She knew that unless a minor miracle happened, she could never afford them. Harry stood watching her glum expression, she turned round to see him and her eyes lit up at the sight of him dressed so smartly.

"How do I look?" he asked nervously!

"Very handsome!"

Harry tried on the others she had chosen out for him, before deciding on the Bottle green.

"These look a bit more business-like." He decided. "Now, what are we going to get for you to wear?"

Ginny blushed and tried to dismiss his question, muttering something about having plenty of clothes and costing a lot of money.

"You've got to have some new clothes too, otherwise how would you look in our photograph? My treat!"

Ginny looked at him, shocked. He hadn't said that she was going with him.

"I need you for moral support!" he explained. Ginny threw her arms around him pulling him into one of her big tight hugs.

Both Harry and Ginny decided to get an early night that night, deciding that it was best to be wide awake when Harry went for his interview. They both said goodnight to Mr and Mrs Weasley, and climbed the stairs to Ginny's room. At the door Ginny gave him a long lingering kiss goodnight, before turning away and closing her door.

Harry walked up to his own room and threw himself down on his bed.

For the first time in a while he had a feeling of foreboding. The morning was going to bring a lot of questions, which would churn up a lot of what had happened in the war. Harry had put a lot of it to the back of his mind, but he knew that the memories hurt. Tomorrow was going to be a hard day!

He lay awake on his back, staring up at the ceiling for hours, the familiar feelings of loss and pain swimming around his head. He couldn't help thinking about all the people that had died defending him. He felt a tear prick at his eye, build up and trickle down the side of his face.

He listened as Mr and Mrs Weasley went to bed, the house falling silent once more.

A short while later the floorboard outside his room creaked. Harry opened his eyes as his door opened silently. Ginny slipped inside the room, dressed in just a silk nightdress. She listened for any sound in the house and closed the door behind her.

"Can't sleep?" asked Harry. Ginny shook her head and held her finger up to her lips, signalling for Harry to be quiet. She tiptoed to his bed and lifted the duvet, climbing in alongside Harry.

Harry's pulse raced as he felt her skin alongside his. Ginny lay beside him and laid her hand on his chest. She moved her head close to his ear and whispered into his ear. "This is for you, for being my chosen one!"

Her hand stroked his chest in a downward movement, reaching his shorts. She pulled them down and stroked him, until he felt ready for her. She threw the duvet back, exposing his now naked body, lying back on the bed. Her hand continued to stroke him, making him groan. She shushed him and threw her leg to his other side, so that she was straddling him. Harry raised his arms to her waist and pushed her nightdress up and over her head so that she too was completely bare. She leaned forwards and kissed him passionately, wriggling her hips down his body, and moving a hand back to guide him into her. She stiffened slightly as she pushed herself onto him, a wince of pain flashed across her face, but she gently rocked herself back and forth on him until he was fully inside.

Harry couldn't believe what was happening as Ginny took his wand from the bedside table and cast a contraceptive charm over the two of them, then sat up and pushed herself slowly up and down, her hands pushing on his chest.

They both seemed to be having difficulties in keeping quiet, as the heat increased. They started to sweat as they kept the rhythm going. Ginny closed her eyes and arched her back. She had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying out, but could do nothing to stop the whimper from escaping. Her fingernails were digging into Harry's skin. Harry too was whimpering, he closed his eyes and screwed up his face as Ginny seemed to tighten around him. He exploded inside of her in a pure feeling of pleasure and love, Ginny felt him pulse inside of her and felt her own explosion, like fireworks inside of her, burning his love deep into her. She gasped a little louder than she had intended, and collapsed in Harry's arms.

Harry was panting, trying to catch his breath. Ginny was lying across his chest, her hair messy and tangled, her hand stroking his arms. Harry pulled the duvet up and the two of them fell asleep in each others arms.

Next morning Harry and Ginny were up and dressed before anyone else in the house. Whenever their eyes met they both grinned shyly.

They had both dressed ready for the interview and were being extremely careful not to drop any of their breakfast down themselves.

After a quick breakfast they stood up and checked themselves.

"Do I look ok?" asked Harry.

"You look great, have you got Kingsley's letter?"

Harry nodded and held up a folded piece of parchment, that had the details for today's meeting.

"Come on then." Harry said, leading Ginny to the fire.

They did not need to use the visitors entrance again, and took the floo network directly to the ministry Atrium. They brushed the ash from their clothes and set off towards the lifts, as instructed in the letter.

The press suite was on the topmost floor of the Ministry. Harry felt like the lift ride was taking forever. His stomach felt like it was filled with lead again as the lift ground to a halt and the doors opened.

The minister was stood outside the doors, obviously waiting for his arrival, and smiled as the doors opened. The press suite was a huge lounge, with electric blue sofa's everywhere, lots of coffee tables stood in the middle of them, creating small islands of chairs across the room.

"We're in the main interview room today, just across the lounge." Kingsley said in his deep voice.

Ginny peered curiously round the room, seeing a number of doors that she suspected led off to different interview rooms.

Kingsley led them across the room to a set of blue double doors. Inside the room was a large conference style desk and a number of chairs. There was a black wooden box on the desk and a number of papers.

As Mrs Weasley has suspected there was a ministry photographer stood in the corner looking very nervous. He kept shooting the minister looks, as if looking for reassurance that he was allowed to be there.

Ginny noticed another person in the room, sitting at the table, a number of papers in front of him was,

"Mr Lovegood!" Harry exclaimed.

He looked round, seeing Harry for the first time since he had tried to turn him, Ron and Hermione over to the Death Eaters.

He didn't seem to remember that event as he stood quickly, smiled broadly and held out his hand.

Harry didn't take it, instead he narrowed his eyes,

"What are you doing here? You tried to turn me in remember?"

Mr Lovegood's smile faded and he looked at Harry almost pleadingly.

"But they had my Luna, surely you understand, they could have killed her. I couldn't let them kill her!"

Harry's mood suddenly changed from dislike to pity. He remembered walking into Luna's room and seeing the painting she had on her ceiling!

"Friends!" he said to himself.

"Sorry? What was that?" asked Mr Lovegood looking puzzled by Harry's comment.

"Nothing, I'm sorry. I was just thinking. You're right, Luna could have been killed!"

"And you saved her!" Mr Lovegood now took Harry's hand and shook it vigorously, trying to express his gratitude. "How can I ever repay you?"

Harry's mood lifted immediately.

"You can make sure that this interview shows everyone the truth. I trust you can do that again?"

Mr Lovegood nodded smiling again. Harry was sure that he was the right man to carry out the interview, after all he had printed Harry's story in the Quibbler and had always supported him before Luna was taken away.

They all sat down round the table, Ginny sitting next to Harry and taking his hand in hers. The photographer took that as his signal to start working, taking a first photograph of the couple together.

The box in the centre of the table was a recording device, so the interview could be transmitted on the wireless.

Mr Lovegood cleared his throat and the interview began.

Afterwards Harry reflected that it could have been a lot worse. He had found every question really difficult to deal with. When he thought of the dead he had broken down into tears. Ginny had cried with him, thinking about Fred, Remus, Tonks, Mad-eye, Colin and all of the others. She felt Harry's pain, mixed with her own. The tears came immediately.

They walked through the ministry atrium together, towards the fireplaces that would take them home. They walked in silence, hand in hand.

"Do we have to go straight home?" asked Harry looking to Ginny for support.

"No, why, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know…could we go to my parents?"

"Godric's Hollow?"

"Yeah, well I said what happened when I went last time, I'd like to go back now we're at peace and have a good look around. I'd really like you to see where I could have lived."

Ginny agreed and they set off to the small village where Harry had enjoyed his first year as a child.

Reaching the village Harry showed Ginny everything he had found out himself. The statue in the square, the graveyard and finally, they walked down the lane towards his childhood home. Ginny squeezed his hand when she spotted the ruined house. They stopped at the gate and Ginny read the sign. Harry led her into the grounds and up to the front door.

"Ginny…"

"Yes love?"

"…What would you say if I said, one day I want us to live here together?"

Ginny's eyes filled with tears and she looked away.

"I'm sorry…erm…I meant one day…not soon of course…you know, when we're a bit older…" Harry suddenly thought he had gone too far, said too much, but Ginny looked up at him, tears streaming down her face.

"Of course I would Harry, yes….oh yes!" she flung her arms round him and leaped into the air, he caught her as she wrapped her legs around him and kissed him fiercely.

"Shall we go home now?" asked Harry. Ginny nodded and he turned on the spot, apparating to the Burrow.

Back at the Burrow, the pair opened the back door and walked into the kitchen, seeing her mum, dad, Percy and George sat at the table Ginny opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but her mum held up a hand to silence her.

The wireless was on and the family were listening intently to what was being said.

…_Our interviewer Xeno Lovegood, this afternoon met with the boy who lived, who provided him with this interview, the story of defeating you know who!_

_Xeno:Harry, the public have been saved once again from He who must not be named, and again we find ourselves looking to you as our saviour. How do you feel being the centre of everyone's attentions?_

_Harry: I'm afraid to say I feel terrible. I never asked to be the person I seem to have become. I didn't ask to be the one who Voldemort tried to kill for so many years. But I never ran. I did what I thought was right, what a great man told me had to be done. Now it's all over, Voldemort's dead, I just want a normal life, I want to grow old, have children and watch them grow._

_Xeno: I know everyone is bursting to know, how you actually defeated he who must not be named, can you let us into the secret?_

_Harry: I'm not going to tell anyone the full details. Voldemort stretched so far into dark magic that he became less than a man. I'm not going to tell you hat he did, in case someone listening in tries it again. Needless to say the only thing that he could never defeat was love! This was his downfall, that and his ignorance of wand lore. I think it's worth remembering that no-matter how powerful you are, there will always be something you don't know, something you can't understand. Albus Dumbledore would have said he knew more than most, but not even he claimed to know every aspect of magic. Voldemort was arrogant enough to pretend that he did, and in the end he believed it so fiercely that it led to his death. He didn't realise there was always a way to defeat him._

_Xeno: Talking of love, I see that today you have brought with you a young lady. Could it be that the chosen one has chosen a young lady?_

_Harry: Yes, Ginny Weasley is my one and only love, she helps me though the hard times, when all I can think about is the people who gave their lives for me, and the freedom of our world._

_Xeno: And for the fallen, what would you say to their families?_

_Harry: I want to tell all their families that they were the bravest people I knew. They stood up for what they believed in and fought for what was right. Without those individuals we would not be here today. They are the true heroes and should be honoured above all others. I lost many friends to the cause as I'm sure many others have. I salute their memories. Let's not forget what they gave up for us._

Mrs Weasley turned and looked at Harry, tears streaming down her face, she was obviously thinking about Fred. She stood up and took Harry in a huge embrace, howling with tears.

Harry didn't know what to say. Mr Weasley stood up and picked up a box from the table top. Mrs Weasley let Harry go and stepped back.

"Molly and I have been talking and we would like to give you this."

Harry took the box offered and opened it. Inside lay a hand for the clock Mrs Weasley had in the kitchen. Harry's name was clearly visible on the hand.

"We want you to know that you will always be a part of this family Harry. And when you and Ginny finally decide to marry instead of sneaking around together, the magical bond will make this hand work just the same as all of the others.

Harry's interview carried on in the background and the family returned to their seats to listen to the rest. Harry and Ginny looked at each other deeply shocked. They were both shocked that Harry had been given a gift like this, Harry finally had a family to call his. They both realised though that the had been overheard last night. Ginny flushed bright red and Harry followed suit. How embarrassing, Ginny's parents had heard them making love.

Harry bent down and whispered in Ginny's ear,

"That's it, there's no getting rid of me now!"

Ginny slid her hand round to squeeze Harry's backside,

"Wouldn't dream of it!" she whispered back.

_A/N: This chapter took me a while to write, and the interview was really difficult. I chose only to put a little bit of the interview in for now, maybe we will see a bit more in the prophet later on. I won't be updating for a short while now as I'm going away on holiday until next Friday. Don't worry though I will be back and will update as soon as I can. In the meantime please leave me some feedback tell me what you think._


	8. Chapter 8 Remembering the Fallen

Chapter 8 – Remembering The Fallen 

Mrs Weasley sat down on the sofa and sighed. She kept looking around the room staring at old photo's and ornaments and had an old woollen jumper in her arms, and didn't seem to want to let go of it, even though it looked a little worse for wear and more than a little moth eaten.

She sighed again and looked across the room towards the fireplace. She looked straight at an old fashioned tarnished silver frame, which held a large moving photograph of her children.

They were all standing around in a semi-circle looking particularly tired, each clutching an old broomstick in their hands and laughing at Ron who appeared to have fallen off his and was lying on the ground splattered with mud.

George was clutching his sides in howls of silent laughter and Fred was holding his twin upright, laughing just as hard himself.

Fred…

'Such a happy boy,' thought Mrs Weasley as she stood up and walked towards the picture. She smiled at the picture as tears began to stream down her face.

'Such a happy boy, so much life, so much joy.'

Mr Weasley spotted his wife looking at the picture and walked over to her.

"Always laughing at something that pair, eh?" he said, making her jump a little and drop the woolly bundle she had been hugging.

"I miss him Arthur. I really miss him. I know I was always telling him off, but I would put up with any number of his pranks just to have him back."

Mr Weasley didn't say anything for a moment but just put his arm round her.

"You know we still have one son who can carry out those pranks. I'm not sure he's coping all that well either but it's going to take time!"

Harry walked down the stairs towards the kitchen, his hair as usual for the morning was messy and sticking up in every direction possible. Ginny liked it that way for some reason and stuck her fingers into it and ruffled it up, as often as she could. She said it made him look sexy! Not a word he had heard anyone use to describe him before. He smirked at the thought, remembering the last time she had tried to ruffle his hair the previous day, while her hand was busy with his hair he had slipped his own past her guard and tickled her sides. She had howled with laughter and collapsed into his arms. She had promised to get him back for it, Harry couldn't wait!

He stopped as he heard sobbing from the living room. He peered through he gap in the door and saw Mr Weasley put his arm around his wife.

"If only he hadn't gone to fight!" he heard her say. "My boys would both be here, they would be up to no good as usual and I would be shouting at them again!…Fred knew I didn't really mean it…he knew that we loved him didn't he?"

The knot in the pit of his stomach came back, he felt the guilt return. What had he done to this family? All of his happy thoughts disappeared in an instant, to be replaced with the old empty feeling he had when he first came back to the Burrow.

He quietly turned away and slipped through the kitchen and out of the back door into the garden.

Ginny bounded down the stairs, her red hair flying free behind her a look of life and happiness on her face, she practically skipped into the kitchen and hummed happily as she made herself a cup of tea. Harry had been in to see her again last night and she was feeling really, really good. She picked up her tea and sat down at the table still humming, to wait for the owl that delivered the morning edition of the daily prophet. She was eager to see if they had printed Harry's interview yet.

She didn't have to wait long for the post to arrive. The daily prophet owl arrived first and Ginny took a coin from a pot on the kitchen windowsill and put it in the small leather bag attached to the owls' leg. It hooted and took off through the window. As Ginny watched it fly away she saw three more owls heading towards the small kitchen window, carrying a large Hessian sack between them. She watched as they grew bigger and bigger. They had to be heading for the Burrow, but what were they carrying? Ginny raced to open the door for them, rather than let them attempt the window.

The three owls appeared to be struggling under the weight, and sank dangerously low as they approached the back door. The postbag hit the floor just before the door and tipped over, spilling a small pile of letters at Ginny's feet.

The post owls released the bag and flew off as quickly as they could without stopping and without looking back, perhaps they were afraid of being told to take the postbag back.

"Thanks" she called to the retreating birds sarcastically as she bent down to pick up the letters from round her feet.

As she picked them up she noticed curiously that they were all addressed to Harry. She picked up the bag with some difficulty and dragged it awkwardly inside. Looking down into the bag she spotted that one or two letters were addressed to her and not Harry.

Ginny picked one of them up with interest and carefully examined the envelope, remembering the letters Hermione had received in her fourth year, with all manner of nasty contents. She definitely didn't fancy blistered hands or being hexed by post.

The envelope was made of thick creamy parchment and was addressed neatly and in immaculate handwriting to Miss Ginevra Weasley. This was unmistakably a woman's handwriting, Ginny tensed slightly. Hermione had gotten hate mail because Rita Skeeter had told everyone she had cheated on Harry and broken his heart, even though they had never been a couple and never wanted to be. Ginny had done nothing to upset the public as far as she knew, but was still wary of this sudden arrival of post.

She removed the piece of parchment from the envelope and carefully opened it out. It appeared to be a short letter;

_Dear Ginny,_

_I hope you don't mind me writing to you, but I just wanted pass on my congratulations on your relationship with Harry Potter. That boy deserves the love of a good woman and I wish you every happiness in your future together._

_Best wishes,_

_Martha Goodwood_

Even though it was a short note, Ginny couldn't help reading it again. It made her feel very happy.

"I wonder who has made you smile like that!" her mother said in a knowing voice, walking into the kitchen, holding a small woollen bundle in her arms. "It couldn't possibly be a certain green eyed young man could it?"

"It's fan mail for Harry. This came addressed to me!"

Mrs Weasley read the short letter and looked at her daughter smiling, a tear in her eye.

"Why don't you go and show Harry, I think he's upstairs!"

Ginny looked excited and took off up the stairs towards Harry's room. Her mother watched her go and wiped away her tear, Ginny was growing up so fast she thought.

Ginny burst through the door to Harry's bedroom, expecting to startle him as she often did, but found the room empty.

She looked around to see the bed had been made, and he had obviously got dressed already. She walked out of the room and went to check Ron's. Harry was not to be found in there either. Slightly perplexed she continued to check every room in the house searching from top to bottom, but she still saw no sign of Harry. Ginny was beginning to get a little worried as she checked the outbuildings, finding nothing but spiders. In a final desperate bid, she ran down the wooded path heading towards the spot she had shown him, with the swing hanging from the tree.

She slowed to a walk as she saw Harry sitting on the swing, his head hung low.

"What's up?" she asked as she walked up behind him.

Harry jumped at the sound of her voice, he had not heard her approach.

"Oh, Nothing!" he said, not entirely convincingly. Ginny gave him a look that told him she didn't believe him and that she had better tell him the truth, and quickly.

"I overheard your mum this morning, she was so upset about Fred. You know it's my fault!"

Ginny walked round to look at him head on and then crouched down in front of him. She looked up into his face to see that he had been crying, his eyes were puffy and red, has face lined with tear marks.

"Don't you dare say that! You already know what I think! If it weren't for you, none of us would be here today! You saved us all, and there's a big bag of fan mail in the kitchen that agrees with me!"

Harry looked up at this last comment. He looked shocked, worried even. Ginny put her hands on his thighs and adjusted her position so that she was kneeling in front of him instead of crouching.

"Don't worry, I'll protect the great Harry Potter from those nasty letters!" she joked. She rubbed his thighs and spoke in a baby-like voice. His face changed instantly, looking down at her he opened his mouth to argue back, but Ginny silenced him by grabbing hold of his belt and unbuckling it.

"What…" he stuttered,

"Shh…" she replied and unbuttoned his jeans. "I'm looking after you…ok?" She put her hand inside of his jeans and took hold of him. She stroked him gently a few times, feeling his mood change from fear and anger, to excitement. She pulled his jeans down a little further pulling him out of their constraint, before she looked up and winked at him. She licked her lips and lowered her head.

The kitchen table appeared to be almost buckling under the weight of the post-bag that had been dropped onto it. Harry and Ginny were slowly sorting through the mountain of letters. There were envelopes of all shapes, sizes and colours from White to yellow to violent pink, luckily they didn't see a single red Howler among them. There were scrolls of parchment too, sealed with thick red wax seals, Harry suspected that these would be from some of the older members of the wizarding community, as Ginny told him that the postal trend had long since abandoned scrolls of parchment, in favour of muggle-type envelopes. Harry thought fondly of the scrolls of parchment he used to receive from Sirius.

Amongst the mountain of letters for Harry, they found quite a number for Ginny, and one or two for the rest of the Weasley's. Obviously the normal post had been thrown into the same bag for delivery.

Harry found a number of identical envelopes each addressed individually to each member of the family, including him. Strangely enough though, there wasn't one for Ron. He laid these letters to one side and carried on sifting through the pile.

Ginny squeaked slightly as she found two very thick and heavy letters, bearing the Hogwarts coat of arms, one addressed to her and the other Harry.

"Looks like our school letters!" she said looking at Harry, "We'll be in the same year this year won't we?" Harry looked up at her, his eyes shone with a glint of mischief.

Ginny lowered her voice and looked into Harry's face,

"Don't you think I'm going to be skiving off any classes with you Potter!" she said, the same glint now in her eye, "I've got my education to think of! Can't go wasting all this potential on a boy! Even if he is _'The Chosen One'!_"

Harry looked offended, but Ginny winked at him and pushed her bare foot up the inside of his leg, tracing a path to his groin, he shot back in his chair, clearly aroused by her actions. She laughed at him as he sat back down and picked up a pile of letters.

"What do you think these are?" he asked as he picked up the identical envelopes. Ginny held her hand out for one and he handed Ginny's letter to her. She opened it and unfolded the piece of parchment inside, he stood and walked round the table to look over her shoulder as she read the letter.

_Dear Miss Weasley,_

_I'm sure you will by now be aware of the events that took place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that saw the downfall of the darkest wizard of our time and the end of the army calling themselves the Death Eaters._

_This victory over dark magic was gained at a terrible price to both our historic school and more importantly the lives of many members of our community._

_Those individuals who laid their lives on the line to protect all that we hold dear should be honoured. Sadly a large number of those individuals didn't live long enough to see the victory that they fought so hard to win._

_We as a community should remember these individuals, the bravery they showed, the sacrifices they made so that we could live._

_In order to remember and celebrate the sacrifice made by the fallen, a ceremony of remembrance and a celebration of their victory will be held on the very site of their struggle._

_Friends and relatives of the fallen have agreed that this should not be a sombre occasion, and should be a celebration of the legacy they have left to us, therefore following the ceremony there will be a freedom ball held in Hogwarts Great Hall._

_You are hereby cordially invited to attend both the ceremony and the freedom ball, Dress robes are to be worn and should you wish to lay flowers at the ceremony all will be welcome._

_Forever Yours in Magic,_

_Kingsley Shacklebolt_

_Minister for Magic._

"Well," said Harry, "We'd better buy you a new dress!"

Ginny looked at him with a deeply worried look.

"Oh No you won't, There's nothing wrong with the ones I've got, you can't go wasting your money like that! Not on me."

Harry looked upset and walked back to his seat. Ginny hadn't meant to be so harsh. She quickly got up and followed him round the table.

"I'm sorry, It's just we've never had much money to spare on nice clothes, and you shouldn't really have to spend all your money on me!"

"I don't really feel like it's a celebration you know! It feels kinda wrong, but I know that Lupin and Fred wouldn't have wanted us all to be sad, so why don't we have a party for them? And if we're having a party I want the most beautiful guest to be on my arm, and as I don't know where to find Millicent Bulstrode…"

Ginny hit him on the arm and he laughed out loud,

"You know you're the only one for me Gin, and pretty soon the whole world is going to know it!"

"What do you mean?" Ginny looked at him with one eyebrow raised,

"I mean, when they see us walking into Hogwarts, arm in arm, you looking radiant as ever! I want to treat you like a princess because you truly look like one!"

Ginny turned a bright shade of pink as she blushed, she was lost for words so just put her arms round Harry's neck and kissed him on the cheek,

"You know, you've got so much better at that these past few weeks!"

"Better at what?"

"Speaking your mind! You used to take so long to say what you meant, it used to drive me up the wall!"

Harry grinned, and winked at her,

"I don't drive you up the wall all of the time!" he said, placing his hands on her waist and slowly moving them down onto her bottom, she flushed even more and her smile spread even wider.

"You know, you're going to get me into trouble you are!"

Harry nodded and leaned in for the kiss that Ginny was offering. Ginny took a step back and left Harry standing there. She giggled and took his hand,

"We going to get this dress then?"

A/N: Hi everyone, I'm back from my holidays now and back into my writing. I hope you like this chapter. It's only short because it's the build up to the actual ceremony. I hate funerals, I've been to funerals where everyone is so miserable and sad, and I don't think that's right. I firmly believe funerals should be about remembering someone and having a good time on their behalf. I decided that the minister would think the same way, hence the ball. I know and you all know that the families will have to deal with it in their own ways, as for the Weasley's, you will see in the next chapter how they deal with it, along with the welcome return of Ron and Hermione. Please leave a review of this chapter and let me know what you think! The next will follow very soon, and promises so far to be quite an interesting event.


	9. Chapter 9 Going Back

Chapter 9 – Going Back 

It was a beautiful sunny day to be walking through Hogsmeade. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione, walked together a few paces behind the rest of the Weasley Family, whispering and talking in a small huddle.

Ron and Hermione had both received their invitations at Hermione's parents house. They had spent the last weeks trying to get them settled back in, and Hermione had had a busy time modifying the memories of their neighbours, so that the family's sudden reappearance after over a year of their absence would not seem anything out of the ordinary.

Harry had been giving his two best friends a thoroughly hard time for not coming back to the Burrow, or at least sending word that they were back in the country. He was outraged to hear about what had happened at the Australian Ministry and constantly berated the regime.

"It's just as bad a Voldemort. I can't believe they let them get away with it!" he exploded.

George glanced around at the sound of Harry's loud outburst and Harry fell silent again, not wanting to disturb the Weasley's walking just in front of him.

There were quite a number of Wizarding families walking through Hogsmeade, all making their way to Hogwarts for the Remembrance Ceremony. They had set off from the Burrow early I the morning, taking their best clothes with them separately. They had taken a portkey to the road just outside of Hogsmeade. It seemed that most families had the same idea, so the area was littered with old boots, bicycle tyres and tin cans, all left behind by the families that were silently making their way down the street towards the castle.

Almost every shop in the village was closed up, their owners were probably already in the castle grounds with the other guests.

Harry dropped his voice and continued to moan at his friends about not coming back sooner.

"Well I didn't want to come back to find the two of you all loved up and gooey did I?" muttered Ron, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Hermione.

Harry couldn't help but notice that the two of them seemed to be acting a lot more like a couple. Ron had been holding Hermione's hand all morning, and Harry suspected that it wasn't just for support. Harry had also spotted Ginny and Hermione exchanging knowing looks and grins. It was about time they properly got together Harry had thought. There had been so many nearly's with those two!

As the family reached the Gates to the castle grounds, they all stopped in their tracks, gazing up at the towering building. It's turrets repaired, walls rebuilt and windows replaced.

Harry didn't know if it was possible, but Hogwarts looked even more impressive than it had done on his first day. Ginny squeezed his hand tighter and just whispered,

"It's beautiful."

Harry nodded, "I didn't think they could do it, but when we visited…"

Ron butted in looking confused,

"When did you visit?"

"When you were away" replied Harry "We...erm…sort of had a first…erm…date!"

Ginny laughed at Harry's awkwardness, he still hadn't gotten over his need for Ron's approval and it appeared he was nervous of Ron's reaction.

Ron didn't appear to have noticed Harry's nervousness or else was too wrapped up in Hermione to care, because he didn't make any further comments.

Harry returned to his previous subject as they passed through the gates and into the grounds.

"So what were you up to all that time on your own then? Surely you didn't take all that time doing memory charms. The ministry obliviators only take a couple of hours to sort out that kind of incident!"

Ron's ears went pink, and Hermione started looking away at the castle repairs, Ginny quickly changed the subject,

"Oh look, the ceremony is going to be outside, lucky it's such a beautiful day!"

Sure enough there were row after row of seats laid out on the lawn in front of the huge oak double doors. The front doors were standing open and people were wandering in and out of the entrance, skirting past the stage that had been set up just in front of the steps.

Others were taking seats, slowly filling up the spaces near to the front, many people were moving chairs themselves, trying to get a position closer to the front. Harry looked behind him to see the steady procession of people through the gates, it looked like a very good turn out.

Without speaking the Weasley's in front, turned and took seats about half way back along the rows. Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy and George nearly took a whole row to themselves, leaving just enough room for Ron, Ginny and Harry to sit on the end. Ron noticed that there were not enough seats in the row for Hermione to sit down too, and so led the rest of them down the row behind, coming to a stop behind his parents. Ron sat down first followed by Hermione then Ginny. Harry however stayed standing, and was looking around the other guests apparently looking for someone. Ginny Stood up and put her arm around him. He took hold of her arm and wrapped it round his own and continued to scan the crowd. Ginny felt his body jump as he spotted the person he had been looking for. He raised his hand and waved to Andromeda Tonks, who smiled at his wave and headed in his direction, carrying a very healthy and happy looking baby Teddy.

Ginny let Harry go and he ran over to meet them. Ginny followed, seeing the look of delight on Harry's face as he took the child from Andromeda.

"How are you both?" she asked as she approached them.

"Ginevra dear, both Teddy and I are absolutely blooming thank you, how about the two of you? I hear you're quite the couple of the century, if the Wireless is anything to go by."

Ginny looked embarrassed as Harry pushed teddy towards her, the baby boy waving his arms at her and smiling broadly.

Ginny nodded as she took him. Andromeda chuckled as Teddy's short hair changed colour from Harry's Raven black to match Ginny's.

Harry noticed too and laughed himself.

Ginny looked amused and turned to speak to Teddy.

"That's a clever trick isn't it? But you know you looked far more handsome with Uncle Harry's hair!" She pointed at Harry who had flushed bright red. Teddy gurgled and clapped his hands. Looking at Harry his hair turned slowly black.

Andromeda looked impressed.

"He's never changed as quickly as that before. I think he likes you!"

Harry asked her to sit with them and she followed them back to their seats, saying a hello to the rest of the Weasley family as she sat behind them. They all looked particularly pleased to see little Teddy, Mrs Weasley was looking especially pleased at having another baby around.

Slowly the rest of the seats outside the front doors filled up, there were so many people there that some had started to conjure their own seats, or else stood at the back and round the sides. Harry looked around the seats, looking for familiar faces. He saw the front row was completely taken by the teaching staff, Hagrid was at on the far end, looking a big as ever, sitting in a specially reinforced chair. He looked around and waved a dustbin lid sized hand at Harry and the others. Harry waved back before looking around for other familiar faces. Lee Jordon was there talking to George, along with a number of this own school mates, Dean, Seamus and Neville with his grandmother. Harry also saw a number of his old Quidditch team, Oliver wood, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson. Each waved or nodded to him in turn. He returned their greeting then continued to look around. With a jolt his eyes fell upon the blonde haired boy he had hated for so many years. Draco Malfoy was not looking up however, and Harry snapped his head back to the front quickly, so as to avoid him. He took Ginny's hand in his and looked up to see Kingsley climb the steps onto the stage.

"My dear friends," he began, "We are all gathered here today to pay our respects and to celebrate the lives of friends, family and colleagues…"

Harry felt Ginny's hand tighten on his, and looked at her to see tears falling from her eyes, He shuffled closer to her and put his arm around her. She laid her head on his shoulder and he stroked her hair. They sat and listened to Kingsley's passionate speach, laughing at the jokes and groaning with all the others when he recited someone's embarrassing memories. The congregation howled with laughter as Professor McGonagall recited in detail Fred and Georges exploits during their last year at Hogwarts. They almost cried with laughter at her description of Argus Filch rowing everybody across their portable swamp, tears were streaming from Georges eyes, his face showed he was enjoying every memory.

Professor Slughorn took the stage to remember a number of the fallen who had been his students, or members of the 'Slug Club' Harry and Ginny exchanged amused looks at the mention of his private collection of favourite students, Harry was reminded once more of a giant fat spider, twitching the strands of his web.

Finally Harry was invited to take the stage to speak. He was prepared. Kingsley had sent him an owl asking for this favour and he had agreed to say just a few words. Ginny kissed his cheek for luck and he stood up to walk towards the stage.

No sooner had he got to his feet, than the crowd fell silent. Every pair of eyes followed him as he walked towards the steps to the stage. Harry heard the whispers start and then the muttering. He slowed down, he was finding it hard to put one foot in front of the other, he looked back and saw he had only managed to walk three rows forward.

Ginny saw his stricken look and hurried forwards to his side, she took his hand and he felt a great warmth grow in him. Together they walked the length of the aisle and climbed the steps onto the stage. The murmuring subsided and Harry stepped forwards to speak.

"Many of my closest and best friends died to protect me! They were the closest I ever had to a family, and now they're gone. I urge every single one of you to look around, look at all the faces here, look at the people sitting next to you, behind you and in front of you. We are the future, our friends gave up their own so that we may make the most of ours. Lets make sure we do them proud!"

With that Harry turned and hugged Ginny, the crowd burst into applause and they left the stage.

The ceremony broke up and everyone was invited into the castle, ready for the ball to commence. The Entrance hall was crowded with people looking at the memorials and comments left after the repairs.

Harry and Ginny headed up to the Gryffindor common room, which had been opened, along with all the others, to all current and ex-house members to use the dormitories as changing rooms. (Not everyone had wanted to come to the ceremony in their ball outfits.)

After a quick change Harry waited in the main common room for Ginny to come down, Ron stood waiting as well for Hermione, looking very nervous. This would be their first ball together after their disaster at the Yule ball in their fourth year.

Hermione appeared first, Ron's mouth dropped open as she emerged from the stairwell to the girls dormitory. She was wearing a simple yet pretty pink dress that hugged her figure tightly. Low cut and backless, Ron gaped at her, not knowing what to say, or where to put his and finally he took a bold decision and placed his hand on her bare back, Hermione turned to him and kissed him lightly.

"You look beautiful Hermione!" she said putting words into his mouth. He simply gaped like a goldfish again, as she smiled and took him down the stairs.

Harry was left on his own waiting for Ginny. Everyone else had changed and left already, leaving the room quiet but so familiar to him that it felt like home.

He was lost in his thoughts for a moment until a small noise made him whirl round on the spot and look at the girls' stairwell. Ginny had appeared there and she looked positively glowing.

Harry's own mouth dropped and he felt his whole body drawn to her. She laughed at his reaction as she took his hand and stepped towards him gracefully.

Harry had given her a large bag of gold from his vault at Gringotts and made her promise to spend every last coin on her outfit. She had complained that she couldn't possibly spend it all, but Harry had insisted and then left her in Diagon Alley to finish her shopping. She had asked him to accompany her but he had looked down shiftily and muttered something about having a job to do and wanting her to surprise him. Before she could argue back he had disappeared down the street and into the bustle of people going about their business.

Ginny had certainly done well in her shopping, she had visited every robe shop and dressmaker looking at every possible dress on the rails. In Madam malkins she had spotted a simply beautiful dress in emerald green, simple, strapless and elegant, she fell in love with it at once. It was the same shade as Harry's eyes. She found shoes, and a bag to match and then visited the hairdressers. The witch in the hairdressers had piled her hair into a stunning arrangement and then placed a charm upon it so that Ginny could re-create the style with a flick of her wand.

She now stood before Harry in her new dress and hairstyle, a small silver tiara holding her hair in place. Harry looked impressed but stopped her before they climbed out of the portrait hole.

"I thought you would like to wear this!" he said, waving his wand and conjuring a velvet-covered box in front of him. Ginny held out her hand and it landed softly on her palm. The box opened magically and she gasped as she looked own onto the contents. There lying on a cushion on the inside of the box was a white gold necklace with a simple pendant hanging from it. The pendant was heart shaped with a sleek looking racing broom outline cut from the centre. It was engraved on the back, 'To the chaser who won my heart!'

Ginny gasped again as Harry took the necklace from the box and hung it round her neck. She shuddered at the feeling of his breath on her neck as he fastened the clasp.

"So that's what you were up to then?" she asked. Harry turned red and looked into her eyes.

"I've not finished yet!" he said before dropping to his knee. "Ginny Weasley, will you marry me?"

Ginny's mouth dropped open as an open ring box appeared in front of them. Harry pocketed his wand and took her hand. She could hardly speak and looked at him in utter astonishment.

"Yes!" she said simply in a small quiet voice, the gold band unwound from it's box and magically curled round her fingers. It snaked in and out until it reached the right one, there it formed a circle again, then slowly from the surface of the gold three stones appeared: a diamond, an emerald and a ruby.

"One for my love, one the colour of my eyes and the other, our brave Gryffindor Red." He said as the ring set solid.

Ginny was lost for words, her mother had told her about magical engagement rings, that set differently for each couple, but she had never seen one. They were extremely rare. The ring could only be made once, by a jeweller with a broken heart. The ring could only be sold to one buyer who was buying it for his own true love. Should the buyer be turned down the ring would evaporate never to be seen again, should they be accepted the ring would only set in its chosen shape for the person returning real true love the same as the buyer.

Harry stood up and Ginny threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. Harry didn't know if the kiss lasted minutes, hours, days or weeks. He didn't care about anything else but the girl in his arms right now, the woman who would become his wife.

They parted and Ginny looked at her hand. The ring had set perfectly. A true magical sign that they were simply meant to be. They kissed again before making their way downstairs to the ball.

They told Ron and Hermione first, shortly followed by the rest of Ginny's family. Everyone was very excited, Mr Weasley, Bill and Charlie each nearly crushing Harry's hand in their excitement.

Harry led Ginny to the empty dance floor and took her in his arms, as they danced Harry felt everyone's eyes on them, watching their every move. He was sure that some of them must have spotted the ring on Ginny's finger, as a murmur went around the room at the sight of them dancing.

Ron and Hermione joined them on the dance floor and slowly the floor filled with couples twirling and stepping in time to the music.

Finally after what seemed like hours of dancing Harry and Ginny left the floor and went to find a drink.

Harry sat down at an empty table and Ginny silkily wrapped her arms around him and sat on his lap. Hermione joined them minutes later, slumping exhausted into a seat, sending Ron to fetch her a drink.

"I'm so surprised they didn't make you head girl!" commented Ginny, picking up a conversation they had been having earlier in the day.

"Erm…I think that they might be erm…looking for someone from the proper year seven, I mean, I should have been in seventh year last year shouldn't I?"

"But Harry's in the same situation, and they made him head boy!" Ginny commented starting to look suspicious.

Ron sat down next to Hermione and Ginny asked her brother the same question. He looked at Hermione as his ears turned pink. She simply rolled her eyes and said,

"ok, ok then…I'm not coming back to school next term!"

Harry looked horrified, Ginny looked shocked too.

"But why not? Surely you want to finish…"

but Ron put his hand up to stop Harry's words.

"She's not coming back to school because we…I mean she…we…erm…"

"I'm pregnant!" said Hermione a little too loud. Everyone looked at her open mouthed, except Ron who was looking around to see if anyone had overheard.

"But how…" started Harry, but Ginny shook her head and he fell silent.

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but a hand landed on his shoulder before he could say a word. The four of them looked up, to see Ron and Hermione were surrounded by four large burly looking wizards.

"Ronald Weasley? Hermione Granger?" asked the wizard with his hand on Ron's shoulder. Ron just nodded, taking Hermione's hand. She looked petrified.

"I'm arresting you for offences relating to breaches in International Wizarding Law. Will you come with us please?"

All four of them stood up, Harry and Ginny both reaching for their wands. The three other wizards raised their own, pointed at the couple. Ron shook his head and without another word they turned and were escorted from the great hall.

_A/N: So what do you think? I'm pretty pleased with this chapter, I'm playing with a few storylines at the moment and I Like the way this one is developing, let me know what you think._

_I thought it might be a bit early for Harry to propose, but I thought it fitted in here really well. I thought it was pretty apt that the ceremony sort of represented a new beginning and thought Harry could use that as a platform for his own new beginning. They have been getting really close, and they know each other inside out. It's quite a short period dating, but they did date before DH and I do plan on it being a long engagement so I think it's ok! Let me know your thoughts._


	10. Chapter 10 The Morning After

Chapter 10 – The Morning After 

Harry couldn't sleep.

He sat on the sofa in the living room, staring out of the small window as he had done so often after the war. Ginny was curled up on the seat next to him, her head resting on his lap. She was fast asleep. She hadn't wanted to leave him but was so very tired.

Harry's mind was swimming with the events of the night. Everything had seemed so perfect. He and Ginny were engaged and the family had accepted their engagement without question. Then Ron and Hermione had made their announcement. Harry didn't know whether to be pleased or worried for the couple. Was it planned? Did they want the baby? Harry had so many questions he wanted to ask his friends, but the worst part of the night had then happened. His two best friends had been arrested and taken away.

Harry didn't even know why they had been arrested. He and Ginny had talked about it all night. They came to the obvious conclusion that it was because of their actions in Australia, but Harry couldn't work out why the British Ministry would support their regime.

"Go and speak to Kingsley!" Ginny had told him "He can sort everything out can't he?" Harry had nodded and gone to ask Mr Weasley if he could borrow Errol to send a letter to the minister. Harry missed Hedwig, he was sure that she would have felt very important to be given this as a task, but Hedwig was dead and Harry felt sick at the loss.

The two of them wrote the letter to Kingsley and sent it that very night. Even tough they had only seen him a few hours ago in the great Hall and shared a friendly chat, Harry felt like he was asking a very big favour of a very important wizard, he wasn't sure if this was pushing his luck.

Harry was now sitting awake, in hope of a reply. He doubted the minister would still be awake at three in the morning, and if he was, he certainly wouldn't be spending the time writing a letter to a 17 year old wizard.

There was a tap on the window, and Harry jumped, startled. Ginny opened her eyes and looked up at Harry, who apologised and pointed at the window. Ginny let him up and he walked over and opened it, allowing a large tawny owl into the room, who was holding a letter in his beak. Harry took the letter and the owl took off out of the window into the morning sky.

The letter was little more than a folded piece of parchment, but it had been sealed with the Ministers own seal. Harry tore it open eagerly knowing it to be a response from Kingsley.

Ginny yawned and stood up. She walked over to where Harry stood and put her arms round his shoulders. Harry re-read the letter and handed it to Ginny to read.

She held it up to the moonlight and peered at the page.

Dear Harry,

I am aware of the arrest of Mr Weasley and Miss Granger and have been working since I received your letter to get to the bottom of the problem.

It appears our Australian cousins have filed a complaint with our own department for International Magical Co-operation. They have forwarded the complaint to the department for Magical Law Enforcement who picked up your friends earlier.

I'm anxious to sort out this problem as soon as possible and would appreciate it if you could meet me in my office at the Ministry as soon as you receive this letter. Please use the parchment as a portkey. I will be waiting.

Yours,

Kingsley

Ginny held the piece of parchment and looked up at Harry.

"Why is Kingsley so worried by this? "

Harry shrugged his shoulders not knowing what to say.

"When does this portkey work?" she continued, "Surely he's not expecting you this early? What time is it?"

As she spoke the paper suddenly glowed a bright and eerie blue, Harry quickly put his hand forwards and touched the paper just in time.

They landed hard on the floor of Kingsley's office. Both of them were still dressed for the ball being too shocked by the night's events to change. Kingsley was similarly attired, he looked like he hadn't stopped working since he had left and looked up, a tired look on his face.

"Harry, so glad you could make it. I wasn't expecting Miss Weasley, but it's good to see you too!"

"I was holding the letter when it activated" she said looking slightly offended that she hadn't been included intentionally. After all it did involve her brother.

The Ministers office seemed to be a very grand affair, obviously no expense had been spared when the first minister had built the office. The room was very big, with a huge ornate antique desk at the far end opposite the main doors. There were bookcases lining the two longest walls, and a huge glass window at the far end enchanted so that it was looking out onto rolling countryside. There was another desk by the side of the door, which Harry assumed was for the Minister's private secretary. Kingsley however didn't seem to be comfortable in the office preferring to concentrate his activities around a smaller more normal looking desk pushed against one of the bookshelves. The rest of the room looked distinctly unused. They both took seats in front of Kingsley's desk, which seemed to be covered in various different stacks of paper.

Kingsley picked up his wand and pointed it at the door. The lock clicked sealing the door from the inside.

Harry looked into the Ministers face, and decided to ask him straight out.

"Why have Ron and Hermione been arrested?"

Kingsley smiled at his forward approach and picked up a sheaf of parchment from the closest pile on his desk. He scanned the page briefly before looking up.

"It appears that Mr Weasley performed an act of magic in a public place and in front of muggles, he then proceeded to resist arrest and was aided in his escape from the Australian Ministry Building by Miss Granger." Kingsley put the parchment back on the desk and looked directly at Harry.

"Their head of Magical Law Enforcement has contacted our Department of International Magical Co-operation demanding that we apprehend the two of them and deliver them to Australia to face trial."

Harry looked outraged but Kingsley continued,

"Naturally We're not going to let that happen but it doesn't stop their ministry bleating to us at every opportunity. Whilst they haven't broken any laws here, They will be questioned and could face charges for breaking International Wizarding Law. I'm no expert there I'm afraid, it's up to our international co-operation department to try and find a loophole, or protection in our own laws. I can't be seen to interfere!"

Harry looked far from happy and turned to Ginny, who looked just as worried as he was,

"Isn't there anything we can do?" she asked almost pleading with him. "After all they have done for us? They were with Harry all of last year! They fought just as hard as anyone I know!"

Kingsley closed his eyes and sighed. "The most I can do is provide a character witness, I can't be seen to interfere with this, it's not allowed."

Ginny folded her arms and stared at him stubbornly. "I promise I will do everything I can!" he reassured her. She didn't look pleased though.

"Can I see them?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"In the morning, yes I'm sure I can arrange that meet me in the lobby when the ministry opens."

Harry nodded his acceptance and stood to leave. He took Ginny's hand and led her out of the office without another word.

They both knew that what Kingsley had said was right, but agreed that they had to do more. Harry checked his watch and was surprised to see it was nearly half past five already.

"Shall we go and look for an open Café?" he asked "Then we can come straight back as soon as the ministry opens at seven."

Ginny nodded, but looked just as furious as she had in the minister's office.

The couple walked into the telephone box outside the ministry and announced their business. Ginny clutched Harry's hand tighter as they descended into the lobby.

Kingsley met them at reception and led them to the lifts and down to the interview rooms and holding cells. The whole floor felt cold and miserable. Harry had the distinct feeling that even though the ministry no longer used dementors that they had left some of their presence behind. He shivered and followed Kingsley into a small interview room, they saw Mr and Mrs Weasley were already there waiting to see their son. Both Harry and Ginny were still wearing their ball outfits and expected Ron and Hermione to be dressed in theirs, as the door opened however they saw that they were both wearing identical grey robes, obviously standard issue for ministry prisoners. Both Mrs Weasley and Ginny jumped up and dragged them both into a huge embrace, muttering that they would be all right.

Hermione had a determined look on her face as she sat down. She looked straight at Ginny.

"Percy used to work for the department of international magical co-operation didn't he?" she asked, Ginny nodded "He should be able to get us out then!" She continued a look of triumph now on her face. "As we have committed no offence in this country we cannot be arrested without an order signed by the head of department and the minister himself. I've tried telling them that but they won't listen." Ginny's eyes opened wide…of course, Percy, she hadn't thought. She looked to Harry who nodded, Ginny stood up and took off out of the room in search of Percy. Hermione was still as clever as ever. Harry wondered if she had swallowed a book on Wizarding law.

"How are you both?" he asked them looking at their faces across the desk.

"Bloody freezing" grumbled Ron, "and hungry!"

Harry smiled, and Hermione hit Ron on the arm.

The door burst open and Percy strolled in looking his usual confident and pompous self. A short harassed looking wizard holding an armful of papers quickly followed him, he appeared to have been arguing with Percy. Ginny stood in the doorway behind them, a smug look on her face.

Perfect, thought Harry, Percy was precisely what was needed at this moment. If the Ministry was trying to do everything by the book, Percy was the man for the job.

"Why are you still holding these two?" asked Percy of the short wizard.

"We're waiting for an owl from the Australian Ministry," he croaked in response.

"Well you should know full well that their ministry has no jurisdiction here, unless the minister agrees to their ludicrous requests…which he hasn't! You have to let them go!"

The small wizard dropped his armful of papers and looked up into Percy's face.

"I'm under a lot of pressure from…"

"I don't care who is putting pressure on you, the law states that these two have committed no crime in the eyes of our Ministry and you have no reason to hold them. Set them free now!"

Harry had never seen Percy like this, calmly controlling his anger and reinforcing his own argument with cool, calculated facts.

Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny took the floo network back to the Burrow just an hour later. Mr Weasley had gone back to work as had Percy. Mrs Weasley insisted on baking them a welcome home cake and so set off in search of ingredients. When the four of them arrived back Ginny took Hermione up to her room to talk, whilst Harry Turned on Ron,

"Mate, I think we need to talk!"

Ron looked pale, he knew what was coming.

"You said last night that Hermione is pregnant?"

Ron Nodded.

"And the baby is yours?"

Ron looked indignant but nodded.

"So how did this happen? Was it planned?"

Ron shifted awkwardly on the spot and tried to avoid Harry's gaze.

"We…erm…kinda got a lot closer when we got back from Australia. We didn't mean this to happen, it just kinda did."

Harry rolled his eyes at his friend. He could expect this sort of thing from Ron, but he thought Hermione would have known better, would have made sure they had taken precautions.

"What do you plan to do about it?" asked Harry giving Ron an extremely stern look.

"I really don't know mate. Hermione wants to have the baby and so do I, but do we get married or not?"

"Do you love her?"

Ron looked down at his feet and his face turned a bright shining red.

"Yes" he said quietly.

"Well you'd better make an honest Weasley out of her then hadn't you?"

Ron looked up at his best friend and slowly a smile spread across his face.

"You'd better not hurt her though Ron or I will make sure you are never capable of getting close to anyone ever again."

Ron gulped and nodded. Harry held out his hand to him,

"Well congratulations then, well done mate!" Ron didn't take the offered hand, instead he pulled him into a big one armed hug.

Harry struggled out and grinned at him,

"Alright, alright, we'd better get moving, there's a lot to sort out and you've got a lot of practicing to do if you want to get back onto the Quidditch team!

"At least I've got a broom!" said Ron, regretting his comment as soon as he had said it.

Harry's face dropped, his trusty Firebolt that Sirius had bought for him all those years ago had been lost in his escape from the Dursley's. Harry thought about his loss for a moment, one of the few gifts from the nearest thing he once had to a family. He made up his mind.

Finally he had the chance to get his life in order. This was a new beginning, no dark wizards hunting him down, no one to lock him in the cupboard under the stairs and hopefully no more trouble with the ministry from Ron. He had a last school term to prepare for and a family to make, about time he got to it!

_A/N: Sorry this is such a short chapter. This was going to be part of the last chapter, but fitted better into the story on it's own. I've been asked what will happen to Ron & Hermione, I'm not so sure that they have completely got off yet so watch this space._

_Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to leave me feedback so far, I really appreciate it. Please please please continue to do so, it's your input that makes me write more!_


	11. Chapter 11 Birthdays Come in Pairs

Chapter 11 – Birthdays Come in Pairs 

Ginny always enjoyed summer, the warm days, the long weeks with no school and nothing to do, it was even better now that she had Harry to spend her free time with.

She was panicking though. It was fast approaching Harry's birthday and she had not found anything to get him for a present. As they were now engaged she wanted to buy him something really very special, but she knew that she couldn't really afford all those things she had seen in Diagon Alley.

Harry had mentioned that he didn't really want anything for his birthday, and constantly made her blush by saying that she was the best present he could ever wish for. She felt guilty that last year she hadn't got him anything at all, just the kiss that Ron had so rudely interrupted. He could be such a git at times.

Harry was keeping very quiet about his plans for her own birthday, after all it was only 11 days after his, and she was nervous. This year she officially came of age. This meant that she could use magic at home legally. Of course she had been using magic occasionally anyway, living in a house full of wizards it was virtually impossible for the trace to detect who was actually using magic, she just had to make sure that her parents didn't catch her using her wand. Nevertheless she still couldn't wait to actually be able to use magic legally.

She was also excited about sitting her apparition test, she had side-along apparated with Harry loads of times during the summer but couldn't wait to do it herself. All in all this was the birthday she had been looking forward to for most of her life and having Harry there with her made it all the better.

Unfortunately Harry seemed to be acting a little bit strange. He disappeared for hours on end during the day and would change the subject whenever Ginny brought up her birthday. She was starting to get suspicious. What was he up to?

Ginny decided to put it from her mind and concentrate on his birthday instead. As Harry had already come of age he said he didn't want a big birthday. Just a family lunch and a quiet night he had said, Ginny decided that this suited her fine and she settled on the perfect present for him.

Harry woke up on the morning of his birthday to find his room empty. He was slightly disappointed, he had expected Ginny to have crept in during the night as she had done a few nights the previous week. Harry liked it when she did this, silently slipping into his bed and curling up to sleep beside him.

He groped around on the bedside table feeling for his wand, having found it he pointed it at the window making the curtains open and flood the room with light.

He picked up his glasses and jammed them on his face, blinking in the sunlight he noticed a small pile of wrapped presents at the bottom of his bed. He didn't feel like opening them without Ginny so he got dressed and opened the door to the hallway. The house sounded like it was empty and Harry decided to walk downstairs to find out where everyone was, especially Ginny.

As he walked into the kitchen he found Mrs Weasley happily cooking breakfast. She spotted Harry and hurried over to him, arms open wide and a big smile on her face.

"Happy birthday Harry dear," she said, throwing her arms around him and dragging him into a bone-crushing hug. "Sit down dear, breakfast is nearly ready. Haven't you opened your presents yet?"

Harry shook his head and Mrs Weasley drew her wand, "Accio Harry's presents" she said and the small pile of packages from the end of his bed flew through the door and arranged themselves neatly in front of him. He smiled his thanks as Mrs Weasley turned back to cooking breakfast.

Harry found he had been given another box of Weasley's wizard wheezes' latest products from George, a book on famous Quidditch moves and spectacular saves from Hermione and a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey from Mr and Mrs Weasley. Harry was surprised by this as he had never expected alcohol from anyone before.

Ron had surpassed himself, wrapped carefully in brown paper was a small glass mirror, when Harry looked into it he didn't see his reflection, instead he saw a coupe of shadowy figures lurking behind some sort of dark mist. Harry had seen one of these before a few years ago, there was no mistaking that this was a foe glass.

Harry was disappointed to see that there was no present there from Ginny, there was a set of fur lined seekers gloves from Hagrid and a box of fudge from Andromeda and Teddy. Harry smiled at this last present, thinking of how well Teddy had taken to him as his Godfather.

Mrs Weasley put a plate in front of Harry and used her wand to make a number of sausages land on his plate, quickly followed by eggs, bacon, tomatoes and plenty of toast.

Ginny arrived back at the Burrow late in the morning, Harry had asked Mrs Weasley where she had gone, she had replied that she had gone out to do a spot of shopping.

Ginny kissed him and sat down beside him as Mrs Weasley prepared Lunch. Mr Weasley was in the shed tinkering with Sirius' old motorbike, that Hagrid had crashed into the Tonks' garden.

"Buy anything nice?" Harry asked as Ginny cuddled up to him on the sofa.

"Mmm!" she replied simply, pushing a bag down the side of the chair before quickly changing the subject. "Do you fancy a bit of Quidditch practice?"

Harry nodded and looked over to Ron who was playing a game of chess against Hermione. Ron nodded and stood up from his game. Hermione moaned that she would have won and Harry laughed at her optimism. He didn't know anyone who had ever won a game of wizard's chess against Ron.

Harry's birthday passed as a very enjoyable day, they played Quidditch, Ron and Hermione as chasers and Harry and Ginny seekers, boys versus girls. The teams were a little bit unfair because Hermione wasn't normally very confident on a broom, but she seemed to be holding her own against Ron for a change. Harry and Ginny were deliberately bumping into each other, and missing catches. Harry was more than once put off looking for his training snitch by Ginny winking at him. Finally the couple found themselves racing to catch the snitch on two old Weasley brooms, Harry's hand stretched out to catch it, Ginny's slightly behind, when she leaned over and kissed him, he fumbled the catch allowing Ginny to catch it and win the game. Ginny teased him all the way into the kitchen as they sat down for lunch.

After lunch Mrs Weasley suggested that they should all go out for the evening and allow Harry and Ginny some private time together. Harry looked at her suspiciously then looked to his girlfriend. Ginny's face was unreadable as everyone stood up to get their coats. As they left, Ginny stood up and walked out of the room, towards the stairs.

"Aren't you coming?" called Ginny over her shoulder as her hair disappeared with a flash round the corner.

Harry grinned and stood up, he followed her up to her room and was astonished by what he saw.

Ginny must have spent hours decorating her room, the window was draped with red silk curtains and red and pink voiles were draped from her bed which had been magically enlarged into a double four post bed. Someone had enchanted candles to float around the room, spilling their soft light across the sumptuous looking room. Ginny had obviously changed very quickly, she was sitting in the middle of the bed propping herself up with her arms. She had used the charm that returned her hair to the style she had worn to the ball, and was dressed in just her underwear, but it wasn't any underwear Harry had ever seen before.

"Do you like it?" she asked of him coyly, "I bought it specially today!"

Harry was stunned, she was wearing a beautiful white lacy Basque and matching thong, she had a white garter around her leg and a white flower tucked into her hair.

"Is this a preview for our wedding night?" he asked as he closed the door behind him.

"No, this is your birthday present, I hope you like it!" she leaned over and picked up a bottle of champagne and two glasses. She picked up her wand and pointed it at him, his clothes magically disappeared and she grinned at him, beckoning him to join her on the bed.

"You'll get in trouble doing underage magic like that!" he teased as he climbed onto the bed in front of her.

"Don't worry, I'll blame it on you!" she replied pouring him a glass.

He drank it back in one swift movement and put the glass down, taking her own from her hand and kissing her.

"Can I unwrap my present now?" he asked. She lay back on the bed and nodded.

Harry wanted to do something really special for Ginny's Birthday and knew that he had a lot to live up to after her present for him. It was going to be difficult though, he knew that her turning seventeen was a big event, and her whole family was going to want to celebrate it with her. There was little chance of getting her to himself.

Harry decided that with a little bit of thought he could surely find a present that would show how he felt for her.

The big day came just eleven days after Harry's. If possible it was one of the biggest events in the Weasley Family history. Ginny was the first girl to be born into the family in seven generations, she was also the seventh child of Mr and Mrs Weasley. Harry knew that seven was an extremely powerful magical number. A Birthday like this was bound to be a big event.

Everywhere he looked the house had been cleaned and tidied, it seemed that just as much effort had been put into getting the house into shape for Ginny's birthday as Bill and Fleur's wedding day.

Mrs Weasley was humming and singing everywhere she went, whenever she looked at Ginny she burst into tears and was compelled to pull her into a hug. Ginny was starting to get a little bit irritated with this especially after one particular hug which had caused her to drop the pile of neatly folded clothes she had been carrying.

Ginny had received an extraordinary amount of presents mostly from family members, cousins, great uncles and the like. Her parents had bought her a watch as was tradition, but this wasn't just any watch, it was beautifully crafted and perfectly feminine, Ginny was astounded by the shining, glittering face and immediately put it on, enlisting Harry's help to fasten the clasp on the silver bracelet style strap. It was a good job Mr Weasley had got a promotion at work.

Ron had bought her a necklace, Hermione a silk nightdress that she made her unwrap in the privacy of her own room, Hermione winked at her when she saw the contents.

Harry had saved his present until last. She opened the wrapping paper to find a brand new dragon skin bound photograph album. On the front she saw their two names magically glittering and winding in and out of each other in gold lettering.

Harry had divided the album into sections and had already started to fill some of them.

Ginny was pleased to see the first photograph in the album was entitled 'The day I found my true love' There was a picture of them sharing their first kiss in the Gryffindor common room.

She flicked through the following pages and found a number of other photographs before finding a blank page waiting to be filled in, entitled, 'Our Future' Ginny closed the book and hugged her boyfriend tightly, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"That's not your only present!" he whispered in her ear as she kissed him on the cheek.

Ginny's birthday party was a very busy affair. People were invited from all over the place. The whole family made an effort to turn up, including the distant relations and their own families. Ginny's friends from school, the Quidditch team, most of the DA and even a few teachers, including Hagrid, Slughorn, Flitwick and McGonagall.

The party continued until very late dancing, singing and talking. As the last person left, Harry took Ginny's hand.

"I've ok'd it with your parents, you're coming to stay with me tonight."

Ginny looked confused at this, she'd been to Harry's room plenty of times, why did he ask permission?

Harry took her hand and she felt the strange suffocating feeling of disapparating. She opened her eyes to find them standing in the square outside the front door to number twelve Grimmauld place. Ginny realised immediately what Harry had meant by 'Staying with him'

They walked up the steps to the house and opened the front door. Ginny was astonished by how different the place looked from when she had last been here, when it had been the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix.

Kreacher had been busy, every object and surface had been cleaned and polished, the walls had been painted in brighter and more cheerful colours, the gas lamps glowed brighter than before and a smell of cooking food was wafting from the kitchen.

Kreacher walked out of the kitchen and bowed low to the two of them.

"Welcome home master Harry. Supper is nearly ready sir."

Harry thanked Kreacher and asked him if he could serve their supper in the drawing room upstairs. Kreacher bowed low again and returned to the kitchen.

Ginny looked impressed as Harry led her up the stairs towards the first floor drawing room. In the room she saw another present, a large rectangular box tied up with a large red ribbon. Ginny turned to look at Harry who nodded towards it grinning.

"Go on, open it!"

Ginny tore the ribbon from the box and lifted the lid, staring down in disbelief at the contents.

"Harry, you can't, it's too expensive, oh Harry!" she held her hand to her mouth as Harry bent down into the box and pulled out her present, a brand new Firebolt 1a. She took it in her hands, marvelling at its beauty. It was the witches model, which was slimmer, and longer slightly than the standard wizards one, the tail was also slightly more streamlined. She tuned the broom over and looked at the registration _'Exclusive Registrations Available!'_ she remembered the caption on the shop window display. Her registration read _'Ginny Potter 1'_ she grinned and turned to see Harry who was looking a little embarrassed. She looked past him and saw another box tucked just behind a chair, against the wall. Harry saw her glance and looked even more embarrassed.

"You got yourself one too?" she grinned at him. He nodded and went to pick up his own wizards model. His registration read _'Harry Potter 2' _"We match!" said Ginny delighted, and kissed him passionately.

"I've got to have a decent broom if I want you to pick me for your Quidditch team!" Harry said with a smirk on his face.

Ginny looked at his face to see if he was making fun of her.

"You mean…" she started, but Harry cut across her.

"McGonagall has made you Gryffindor Quidditch Team Captain!" he said proudly.

"But I thought you would be made captain again, now you're back!"

"No, McGonagall has done too many favours for me, I shouldn't really even be head boy, besides, she's picked the best chaser in the school, we can't lose!"

Ginny hit him on the arm at his last comment before hugging him again.

"If you don't stop, my head will be too big to fit through the door."

Harry mimicked her head ballooning and Ginny burst into fits of giggles.

Kreacher opened the door carrying a large tray holding Harry's bottle of Firewhiskey, two glasses and an assortment of food. Ginny looked suddenly hungry.

"Mum's cooking was wonderful, but that smells gorgeous!" Kreacher beamed at the compliment, and again Ginny was surprised by the change in the small elf. She had heard Harry, Ron and Hermione talk about him and how he had changed, but seeing it for real still surprised her.

She and Harry talked for hours, they ate, drank and laughed. Eventually it was time to go to bed, Harry led her up the stairs to the Room that had been the master bedroom. Ginny had never been in here, and half expected a return to the Back family décor, but again this room had seen a dramatic transformation. Harry had stripped the room bare and left plain magnolia walls, a dark crimson carpet and an antique four post bed with matching wardrobe and chest of drawers.

He led Ginny to the bed, where she kissed him. Harry pulled out his wand and used Ginny's own charm against her. Instead of making all of her clothes disappear, he removed them one at a time, making Ginny squeal and giggle as he kissed her at the same time. Harry stood back leaving her wearing only a smile. She picked up her wand, pointed it at him and growled with lust, his clothes disappeared and he smiled. Ginny performed a contraceptive charm and pulled him towards her, falling onto the bed. She pushed Harry onto his back and swung her leg over him, teasing him by rubbing her groin against his.

"This is my lucky day!" she said with a coy grin, "I get two presents that I can ride!"

With that she slid herself down onto him and threw her head back, her hair falling down her back. Harry looked up at her, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen as she lifted herself up on him slightly before slowly sliding back down with a moan.

_A/N: I think that will do for now! lol. Must leave then some privacy!_

_I wanted to write something about their birthdays because they are so close, but this didn't form a main part of my plot line. (Only the bit about the brooms!)_

_Next chapter, our heroes go shopping for school and get a slight shock._

Thanks once again for those of you who have left feedback, you guys keep me writing. Please keep it up, your words motivate me. This is my last update for this week, I don't get much writing time at the weekends! Hopefully my next update will be Monday or Tuesday.


	12. Chapter 12 Textbooks and Tantrums

Chapter 12 – Textbooks and Tantrums 

"Can't you have a word with her?" asked Ron, looking really put out, she'll rip my head off if I try to tell her again.

"No Ron, this is your problem, you've got to sort it out." Replied Harry, starting to get angry. The argument had been going on for days now. Harry was getting utterly fed up with it.

"It's about time you faced up to your responsibilities you know, and that includes your girlfriends education. Hermione shouldn't have to miss out on getting her NEWT's because you can't perform a contraceptive charm properly."

Ron turned bright red and glared at Harry.

"Well what about you and my sister? Who knows what you two have been up to? What if the same thing happens to you?"

"Firstly Ron that's none of your business, and secondly, I'm quite aware of how the charm works, and can perform it properly, unlike you!"

Ron looked like he wanted to hit him. Harry stood squarely in front of him, defying him to try, his hand on his wand ready just in case. He was used to this, the argument had been going on long enough for him to recognise when Ron was getting angry and he knew that given another half an hour, he would have calmed back down again. He really did need to talk to Hermione though. School was rapidly approaching and she was still stubbornly refusing to go back. Ginny had tried talking to her, to no avail and Harry had even tried writing to McGonagall, who had written back and said that there was a place for her if she wanted to go, but that she had already tried to persuade her back.

Harry had tried to raise the subject himself, but had earned a weeks worth of silence from her. She wouldn't speak to him when she visited the burrow and wouldn't write back to him when he sent her a letter. He had even walked into the village to use the phone box, but she hung up on him as soon as he said his name.

"Well you can at least get her to come along tomorrow when we go shopping for our school stuff. Maybe the sight of all those books will change her mind." He said, trying to lighten the mood a little. Ron struggled to disguise a smirk, and turned away with a grunt."

'That's better!' thought Harry and he turned away himself walking towards the stairs, to see Ginny hiding in the shadows.

"Any luck?" she asked, not sounding too hopeful. Harry shook his head as he took her arm and walked upstairs.

Ginny stopped him and kissed him half way up. He suddenly felt the suffocating feeling of disapparating and opened his eyes to find himself in Ginny's bedroom. Ginny giggled as he tickled her in protest of her trick. She had passed her apparition test just two days previously and was taking great delight in whisking him away every time she had a good hold of him.

This was the fifth time he had ended up in her room and had already found himself in the shed outside twice and by the swing in their clearing three times.

"Are you trying to get me on my own Mrs Potter?" he teased her. He always used her future married name when he was teasing.

Ginny looked offended and stepped away from him,

"Well if you don't want to be alone with me, I'll go shall I?" and with that she disapparated leaving Harry alone in her room. Again Harry had come across this tactic before as well and knew that it was the start of a game of hide-and-seek. Harry rarely won, instead Ginny would cheat and move round the house, eventually sneaking up behind him.

Harry grinned and left the room, heading for his own. He pushed the door open a crack and saw Ginny's red hair waiting for him.

He grinned again and turned on the spot, reappearing with a loud crack right behind her. She screamed out loud as he grabbed hold of her. Harry was roaring with laughter as she beat him with her hands.

"That was a mean trick to play!" she moaned, still struggling. "I hope you get splinched next time!"

Harry and Ginny spent the rest of the day in the garden, racing each other on their new brooms, both marvelling at the acceleration and handling, Ginny especially impressed as this was the first international standard broom she had ever owned. Harry kept comparing it to his old Firebolt, earning him frequent admonishments from Ginny.

Ron had been quiet all day since his argument with Harry, he had shut himself in his room for most of the morning, but came out into the garden in the afternoon. Seeing Harry and Ginny on their brooms he had made to go back inside.

"Fancy a REAL race?" challenged Ginny with a mischievous look on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Here to the Lovegood's and back!" she said seeing the astonished look on his face. "Come on, no-one will see us if we go fast, besides we're far enough away from the village!"

Harry grinned and nodded, Ginny winked at him and leaned over for a kiss. Harry leaned in himself, his lips inches from hers. Suddenly Ginny shot off on her broom, leaving him in a cloud of dust, kicked up from the ground. He laughed out loud and shot forwards on his own broom, in hot pursuit.

"No fair!" he shouted at her back, Ginny just laughed at him and leaned closer to her broom handle in an attempt to extend her lead. Harry leaned in himself, bringing his nose as close to the broom handle as he could, inch by inch he was gaining on her.

Ginny looked over her shoulder looking for him, and for a split second she couldn't see him. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted him high above her and to her right, smiling, she swerved high to attempt to block him.

Harry was ready for her move and swerved low and left a split second earlier, smoothly taking the position she had previously occupied, he almost flattened himself against his broom and took the lead.

Harry could see the Lovegood's house on the horizon, and sunk lower, hugging the green hillside as he tore past stone walls and hedges.

Ginny followed, riding the hillside like she was on a rollercoaster. More than once Harry lost her in the confusion of trees dotted around the bare fields.

The two fliers approached the house at high speed. Harry slowed down to take the circular house in a long careful arc. He looked down towards the building, noticing a new looking patch of masonry where the house had been repaired after it had been blown apart during his last visit. In the garden he could see Luna, dreamily attending to the flowers and plants in the borders.

He shouted to her and raised his hand in a wave. As he did so Ginny appeared between him and the house, tearing past him, still at full speed.

She raised her own hand in greeting before returning her grip to her broom handle. She lifted her feet onto the broom handle and pulled back hard, screeching round in an impossibly tight turn, before shooting off back across the fields.

Harry watched her skill in awe and was reminded of his own flying back at Hogwarts. It seemed like a lifetime ago. He couldn't wait to be back. He leaned against his broom again and shot off to try catch up again.

The couple were neck and neck as they approached the Burrow, Ginny's face was firmly set forwards, staring at the position they had set as their finish point.

Throwing caution to the wind, Harry leaned flat against his broom, folding his arms against his body so that the slightest twitch in his muscles moved the broom alarmingly. The drag against his body lessened and gradually he inched into the lead, his broom hugging the floor. He was nearly there, nearly…

WHAM, his knee hit the floor, and bounced him up into the air, the tail of his broom brushing the ground briefly. He instantly lost speed, as he flailed for balance, Ginny shot past him and shouted in delight as she thundered past the finish line. Harry couldn't help but be impressed once again by her flying and her determination to win. He slowed and glided gently to her side, offering her his congratulations, wincing at the pain in his leg.

"What's this? The great Harry Potter losing a race to a girl?" she replied in pretend shock.

Ginny spent the rest of the day, and most of the evening telling everyone and reminding Harry of how she had won, and he had lost.

Ginny was still hailing her victory the following morning. Harry was starting to regret buying her the broom, when Hermione walked in through the back door. Hermione was the one person Harry was hoping for a little sense from. She was the only person in the house who didn't seem blown away by Ginny's victory, but that didn't mean much Harry thought, as Hermione had never been fond of flying.

Hermione had agreed to accompany the other three as they went to Diagon Alley shopping for their school equipment. Harry needed to buy almost the entire first year school list again, as he had left a large amount of his possessions at the Dursley's and had no idea where they were now. He had contacted Dedalus Diggle asking where the Dursley's had moved to, but he had no idea, it seemed that they hadn't really enjoyed each other's company, despite Diggle's initial enthusiasm.

Hermione offered to lend Harry some of her own things so that he didn't have to spend so much money, but he refused, still hoping to change her mind.

Two hours later Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione walked into Flourish and Blotts, three of them clutching a school list in their hands. Hermione made a quiet excuse and headed towards the back of the shop, looking wistfully at the others as she went.

Harry and Ginny started pulling books from the shelves checking the list as they went. The standard book list seemed somewhat unchanged by recent events, however Harry mused over who might have set the new defence against the dark arts book, 'Fighting the Unfixed, a Practical Approach to Advanced Defence. By Bertram Hedgely.' Harry certainly thought that Bertram Hedgely didn't sound like a very tough name!

Ron was moodily thumping his books into a pile, by the looks of things he and Hermione had been arguing. Harry suspected he knew what the argument was about, but kept quiet. Ron shuffled quietly to his side and spoke out of the side of his mouth.

"She went mental mate! Wouldn't even talk about it. Said she'd made her mind up and she wouldn't change it, no matter how many books I offered her."

"You seriously offered her books?" Harry asked with an astonished look on his face. Ginny nudged him in the side and whispered in is ear. A large grin spread across his face and he nodded.

"What?" asked Ron looking suspicious.

"Well…" began Harry, "Ginny's had an idea, and so long as I finance it I think it might just work."

Ron looked interested and Harry continued,

"All we have to do is buy all of Hermione's school things for her and present her with them before she goes home, she can't possibly refuse once we've actually got the stuff home. All we've got to do is buy it without her seeing."

Ron looked doubtful but decided it was worth a try.

"Ok, I'm in!" he agreed, picking up another copy of each of the books he had already.

"Yeah, you need to be a little bit more subtle than that!" said Ginny, seeing the huge pile of books growing in his arms. Ron opened his mouth and gaped blankly, thinking that he had done nothing wrong. A hand reached round and pushed his jaw upwards closing his mouth for him.

"That's better!" said Hermione "Can't have you looking like a frog in public." She looked at the books in his arms, and then to Harry and Ginny's piles of books. Harry could see her doing the maths and jumping to the right conclusion.

"You're buying me books?"

Harry decided that this was not the time for lies and nodded.

"Do you really want me to come back to school that badly that you'll all skulk around behind my back, plotting for me?"

The three of them looked down at their feet, looking ashamed.

Hermione looked at her friends, her words stopped and wouldn't come.

"Do you really want me to come back to school?" Harry looked up and nodded.

Hermione looked pained. "What about when I start to show, what about when the baby comes, I'll still be in school!"

"Don't worry, we'll sort something!" Ginny added before any of the others could say anything.

Hermione looked from face to face, searching for another excuse, finding none she sighed and nodded. Ron breathed a heavy sigh of relief and shoved a small pile of books towards her.

"Here, grab hold of these then, my arms feel like they're going to drop off."

Ginny grabbed the books immediately from Hermione and dropped them heavily back onto Ron's pile.

"Oi, she shouldn't be carrying heavy stuff like that in her condition!" She shot Hermione a sly look and winked at her. Hermione grinned and linked arms with her before walking off further into the shop. Harry sniggered at the look on Ron's face and slapped him on the back, nearly knocking him over.

"Come on then, lets pay for these and move on, I've got a lot to buy today."

Harry once again had to resist the urge to buy a solid gold cauldron, sticking instead to the standard pewter type, specified in the first year letter he had managed to find in amongst his few possessions.

He spent a while buying a silver knife, dragon skin gloves, a new set of scales and potion ingredients. He was strangely looking forward to Potions this year, Snape had always filled him with dread at the thought of the lesson, but Slughorn was a different prospect. He was sure that the Professor would try to invite him to the 'Slug Club' again, but Harry decided that it could be quite fun, if he gave it a chance. This year was going to be very different indeed.

Harry decided that shopping with the aid of magic was a hell of a lot easier than his attempts had been without. Every time he bought a new item, he simply shrank it and put it inside a small bag that he and Ginny were sharing. It had been Ginny's idea and Harry was impressed by her practicality.

Ginny dragged him towards Eyelops Owl Emporium, she had spent most of the morning persuading him that it was about time he got himself a new owl.

As he approached the shop he felt another pang of loss for Hedwig. Hagrid had bought her from this shop and he could see a cage through the window holding another Snowy owl. Ginny pulled him inside.

Harry had never set foot inside the shop, never having needed to. The inside was dark and smelly, there were feathers everywhere, and constantly the sound of hooting, or the occasional screech.

Harry looked round the cages of owls, that seemed to be full of brown-feathered birds, all looking very much the same. Harry's eyes were again drawn to the Snowy owl in the window. At this second glance the owl looked up, blinked at him and hooted quite feebly. Harry took a step closer to the cage and peered in. It appeared that the owl had been in some sort of an accident, there were bald patches in its feathers and its wing seemed to stick out at an odd angle.

"Been through the mill she has!" said the shopkeeper from behind him. "She was attacked by a Kneazle, never really been the same since!"

Harry looked closely at her she seemed to peer back at him, blinking slowly in the dim shop interior. She did look an awful lot like Hedwig, but was slightly smaller.

"What's her name?" asked Harry

"Her name's Fern."

At the sound of her name the owl looked up at the shopkeeper, suddenly looking more alert, and proud.

"I'll take her!" said Harry, fumbling in his pocket for his money bag.

Ginny spent the rest of the afternoon, talking to Fern through her cage. Like Hedwig, Fern appeared to be a clever owl, seemingly understanding most of what Ginny was saying.

Harry was still worried about her wing and decided before he let her out for a long flight, to take her to Hagrid, see if he could do anything to help her.

"You'll do anything to get back to school quicker won't you? We've only got a couple of days left you know!" Ginny teased him. Harry nodded his head but still wanted to get to see Hagrid before the start of term.

Harry needn't have bothered as that very night Hagrid appeared for dinner.

"Authur called me, said he'd finished putting tergether tha' motorbike of Sirius'!" Hagrid explained as he ducked under doorframe into the kitchen.

Harry explained the injuries to Fern and Hagrid gently took her from the cage and placed her on the table. Gingerly she stretched out her wing to show him. Hagrid hummed as he inspected the wing.

"Shouldn' be too difficul' ter fix tha'!" he grunted, returning her to her cage. "I'll take 'er back wi' me."

Harry thanked him for his help and set about helping Ginny to lay the table for dinner.

Tomorrow he had to pack for his final year of school, then the day after they would be going back. Back to the first real home Harry had ever known.

_A/N: I had so many plans for this chapter, but changed some of them half way through writing. I know there was supposed to be a shock for our heroes, but I decided that it would work better further into the story, so I've saved it for now._

_I hope you liked this chapter though. Please leave feedback if you did, also if you have any ideas for DADA teachers. At the moment I have a few ideas, but don't know if I should use a current character in a new job, or if I should introduce a brand new one. Let me know what you think!_

_Next chapter our heroes go back to school!_


	13. Chapter 13 Perfect Prefects

Chapter 13 – Perfect Prefects 

Harry couldn't see a thing. A Mixture of smoke and steam was obscuring his view of the platform as he and Ginny waited for the other students to arrive. Ron and Hermione had both loaded their own luggage onto the train and had settled into the prefect's compartment at the front of the train. Mrs Weasley was hugging him tightly around the neck as he hung out of the window to say goodbye.

As head boy and Girl, Harry and Ginny were supposed to be greeting new students and making sure they got on the train okay. Harry didn't remember anyone doing this for him, but he had been swept up with Ron's family and probably wouldn't have been noticed.

Slowly, one by one students began to appear on the platform, making their way from the muggle side, some looking slightly red from running at the barrier, and some looking quite casual, as they had simply walked through.

Harry waved to a couple of people he recognised, Ginny doing the same. Ginny's expression tightened slightly as a group of fifth year girls called and waved at Harry, giggling at once. Harry turned to his girlfriend, looking embarrassed. Ginny's expression changed again and she laughed at his embarrassment.

Harry spotted a couple of first year boys, looking slightly lost and hurried over to greet them and their parents, Ginny was left on her own, still sweeping the platform, between clouds of steam, looking for first years. Luna spotted her and came running over, her arms open wide, earrings swinging alarmingly.

Before Ginny could utter a word of greeting, Luna had thrown her arms around her and was crushing her in an enormous hug. Eventually Luna let go and took a dignified step backwards. Returning to her normal bemused demeanour she frowned at her friend,

"That was some nice flying I saw the other day, but you didn't stop to say hello!"

Ginny looked at her slightly amused,

"I was racing Harry! I couldn't stop, but I did wave!"

"Oh yeah, I wondered why you were in such a hurry to get away from him!"

Ginny laughed as Luna waved a brief goodbye and went to board the train. She was going to enjoy having Luna around again, she decided.

Once everyone had boarded the train, Harry and Ginny made their way to the prefect's compartment. Neither of them had ever been in this compartment before, neither of them having been prefects before. Ron and Hermione had both been prefects and McGonagall had been kind to reinstate them, although two extra people did make the compartment a little crowded.

Both Harry and Ginny had received letters of briefing for their duties on the train. These duties included talking to the prefects and assigning their jobs for the year.

Ginny took the lead and introduced them both, although she suspected that everyone already knew them anyway, she didn't want to appear big headed. As each of the prefects introduced themselves, the couple nodded, smiled and acknowledged them in turn.

Harry had a list of jobs and started to ask for volunteers,

"Detention duty?" a young looking witch put her hand up in response,

"Passwords?" a tall dark haired boy volunteered to communicate each change of password by nodding his head.

They continued to list the jobs one bay one, until Harry and Ginny were left with out-of-bounds patrol. This meant that the two of them would spend portions of their evenings, making sure that no-body was out of bounds.

Ginny handed out the first passwords for each dorm and the latest list of banned items that should be confiscated. Then she dismissed the group to enjoy the rest of their trip to Hogwarts.

Most of the crowd left the carriage to find their own friends, leaving Harry and Ginny alone with Ron and Hermione.

Ron was excited, Harry watched him and saw that he couldn't keep still. He would sit forward and look out of the window, looking for a sight of the castle, only to sit back again, before standing up and looking down the corridor for the Witch who pushed the snack trolley.

Hermione was watching him with amusement too, she was sat back in her seat, an open book on her lap. It was a sign of change that she didn't have her nose buried firmly between the pages.

Ginny decided to try and catch up on some sleep through the journey, and rested her head on Harry's shoulder. Harry smiled and took off his glasses, yawned and decided that he should get some sleep too, after all he and Ginny had not gotten a lot of sleep the night before, finding far more interesting activities to do!

When Harry opened his eyes, the sky outside had turned black, night had fallen and there was a light drizzle streaking the windows. Harry looked around the compartment, Ginny was still asleep on his shoulder but Ron had disappeared, Hermione was holding a low whispered conversation with Neville.

"Neville?" Asked Harry confused, "What're you doing here?"

"McGonagall asked if I wanted to come back and re-sit my seventh year. I didn't exactly get much learning done did I?" he explained. Harry was pleased to see him. His face still showed marks left by the scars he had worn last year. The Neville sat before him was a completely different person to the Neville who had lost his toad on the train as a first year student.

The train started to slow and Harry woke Ginny up so that they could get ready to leave the train, Ginny said hello to Neville and asked him who else had returned. It appeared that very few of Harry's original school year had come back, some of them sitting their NEWT's at home and others just dropping out. She was happy to hear that most of her own year had returned though to complete their final year.

There was a general feeling of excitement running down the train, as the news that Harry Potter had returned to school spread through the compartments. Harry could see dozens of young faces craning to get a good look at him. As head boy and girl, he and Ginny had to head straight to the castle before everyone else, so that McGonagall could brief them again, so they quickly ducked out of the door onto the platform, waving briefly to Hagrid, who was standing ready to take the first years to the boats. They headed straight for the closest carriage and Ginny gasped as she saw the skeletal looking Thestrals for the first time. Harry took her hand in his and helped her to climb into the carriage.

The castle looked as beautiful as always lit up against the dark night sky. Harry could see soft orange light in every window and marvelled once again at the speed at which the castle had been repaired.

Ginny cuddled up to his side, as they approached the entrance.

They were welcomed into the doorway by Professor McGonagall, who had been watching the approach of their carriage,

"Welcome back you two, I trust you enjoyed a pleasant journey?"

Harry and Ginny both nodded their responses.

"You won't be staying in your usual dorms this year," she began, seeing their worried looks, she continued, "The head boy and girl have their own small tower, with their own rooms and facilities, You will find you will both be comfortable, with a room EACH" she emphasised this last word, "your own living area, bathrooms and studies. You will also have a direct link to the kitchens. Should you need to eat in your dorm, just call one of the house elves and they will send you food up."

Ginny looked impressed,

"Where is this tower Professor?"

"A revolving staircase similar to that of my own office, is hidden behind the statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. You can set your own password, but the current one is 'Befuddled.'"

Harry and Ginny exchanged looks and grins as McGonagall turned and walked into the Great Hall, preparing to greet the students for another year of lessons.

Tiny Professor Flitwick scurried past the two of them carrying a stool and the tatty old sorting hat. Harry practically dragged Ginny into the Great Hall, so that they could hear the sorting song.

The first years filed into the hall, looking just as Nervous as Harry had done on his first day, they lined up facing the raised stage where the staff had their table. Professor Flitwick held up a scroll of parchment in readiness for the sorting, and the room fell silent, waiting for the song.

_Many years have passed before my cloth,_

_many faces I have seen,_

_I've seen some faces full of hope,_

_I've seen some nervous and green._

_I've seen the great, I've seen the meek_

_I've sorted them everyone,_

_I've watched them learn and learn some more,_

_Then watched when they've learned and gone._

_I've seen the good times and I've seen the bad,_

_but I've sorted students nonetheless,_

_I've sorted, divided and split you up,_

_I've sometimes wondered if it's for the best._

_My time has been spent in watching you,_

_And seeing what deeds you've all done,_

_You've heeded my warnings, my advice and my words,_

_And you united together as one._

_United you stood and defended this place,_

_The castle our founders built,_

_You fought and you died to win the day,_

_And sealed the dark lord's guilt._

_You defeated the one we feared the most,_

_Struck him down in this very place,_

_I can see now the one who saved us all,_

_And I remember sorting him into his place._

_Brave and kind, determined he was,_

_He was desperate to prove his all,_

_When put under pressure time and gain,_

_He rose bravely to answer our call._

_So now we start a brand new term,_

_So where do I sort you all,_

_Why don't we ask what our founders thought,_

_What each of them prized above all._

_Brave Gryffindor he prided those,_

_Who were strong and brave of heart,_

_Proud Hufflepuff chose the loyal,_

_Who's hard work and truth set them apart,_

_Clever and thoughtful Ravenclaw,_

_Took all those of wit and learning,_

_While bold decisive Slytherin,_

_preferred those who were cunning in their yearning._

_So wonder no more as to where you belong,_

_For it's my decision to ponder,_

_Just pop my brim atop your head,_

_And allow your young mind to wander._

_You're about to join the proudest houses,_

_this school has ever seen,_

_and don't you worry about my choice,_

_because a cleverer hat than plain old me, I doubt you've ever seen._

The entire hall erupted into thunderous applause. Harry was astonished, the sorting hat had again made up it's own parts of the song, instead of just listing the virtues of each house, it had added in it's own thanks to everyone who had defended the school. Harry clapped harder as Professor Flitwick stepped forward with the scroll of parchment raised.

After the sorting was done, Professor McGonagall stepped forwards to speak. The hall once again fell silent.

"Welcome to our new first years, and welcome back to the rest of you. I would also like to welcome two new teachers to our staff. Firstly Professor Silandra Poppet who is taking over the vacant position of Muggle studies teacher," There was a sporadic round of applause for the attractive young blonde haired witch sitting at the staff table, she seemed to draw quite a response from the boys, "and secondly I would like to welcome Professor William Weasley as our New Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Professor Weasley brings with him a wealth of knowledge as a curse-breaker for Gringotts bank." There was a louder round of applause, and a great deal of muttering as the students obviously discussed the obvious scarring to Bill's face. "As I'm sure you will all be aware, the castle has recently been extensively rebuilt following the damage caused at the end of last year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who helped in the repairs and made the re-opening of the school possible." There was a murmur of appreciation and a round of applause. She held her hand up for silence and continued, "before we commence the start of term feast I would like to remind you all of one or two school rules. There is to be no magic performed in the corridors between classes. The forest in the school grounds is strictly out of bounds for all students, unless accompanied by a member of the teaching staff. Mr Filch our school caretaker would also like to draw your attention to the list of items strictly banned this year, which continues to include all products from the shop Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The complete listing can be found in Mr Filch's office. Now without taking up any more of your time, please enjoy the feast."

The plates in front of tem filled immediately with food of every type, Harry was ravenous and immediately started to pile his plate. He was no-where near as quick as Ron however who was already tucking into the contents of his own plate.

"Honestly, that's not an attractive sight you know!" said Hermione making fun of Ron's eating habits. Ginny giggled too as Harry imitated Ron shovelling food into his mouth.

"Mmmmph mphmm mmphm!" exclaimed Ron, through a mouthful of chicken, causing the others to roll about laughing at the look on his face.

After the feast, everyone settled into their own conversations, waiting to be dismissed from the hall. Ginny leaned over Harry's shoulder and whispered in his ear. Harry grinned at her words whispering a few of his own back. Ginny looked around the table to see if they were being watched, then slipped her hand under the table, and inside of Harry's robes. Finding what she was looking for Ginny carefully teased him until he felt hard in her hand. He whispered in her ear and she giggled, slowly stroking him still. The hall fell silent and Ginny withdrew her hand, kissing Harry on the cheek and whispering "Later!" in his ear.

Professor McGonagall stood back up at the front of the Hall, everyone turned slightly on their benches to face her.

"Now that we are all fed fit to burst on our wonderful feast, It's time for you all to retire to your dorms, but before we do so, I think we need to resurrect a tradition from happier times. I would like you all to join in singing the school song. Pick yourself a tune and away we go…" She flourished her wand in mid air, sending ribbons into mid air, which formed the words of the school song, Harry hadn't seen since his first year.

_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something, please,_

_Whether we be old and bald,_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling,_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot._

Everyone finished at different times, singing their own tunes. Harry and Ginny were the last to finish, in Fred and George style. Both of them singing the words this time to a bridal march, earning them cheers and wolf whistles from the other students.

The students all stood from their tables and slowly the hall emptied, the students all filing towards their own dorms. Ginny took Harry's hand and almost ran with him towards their new quarters. She kissed him passionately, her arms all over him as they rode the staircase up to their door. As they reached the door, Ginny pushed a bemused Harry inside, tearing his robes from him. Harry returned the favour, pulling at her own robes, and casting them aside as he stripped her naked. Ginny stood in front of Harry, her hair hanging down her front covering her pert breasts. She pushed her hair over her back laying her chest completely bare. Ginny pushed her hand against Harry's own naked body so that he fell into the chair behind him, his body displaying his want and need for hers.

Ginny slowly climbed on top of him, straddled him and lowered herself onto him.

"Welcome home Harry!" she panted. Harry couldn't speak, he had been thinking of her, wanting her like this all day, and now he was having her he couldn't think of anywhere he would rather be.

He raised his hands and grasped Ginny's full firm breasts as she rode him in the chair. He then put his arms around her and lifted her up as he stood. Turning her round to place her on the floor and lying on top of her, he continued to pleasure her in a way she had never quite felt before.

Ginny lay there never wanting the feeling to end, holding him digging her fingers into his back, kissing him, then gasping for air, as she felt herself tighten around him. She felt Harry shudder, and she hugged him close, not wanting his love to stop.

Harry kissed her over and over again, exhausted by what they had just done.

Their moment was spoilt by a noise outside of the room, the staircase was moving again, someone was coming up.

Harry and Ginny scrambled round the room, desperately looking for something to cover themselves with. Ginny found a large blanket and draped it around herself, Harry did the same with a second. Just in time they were covered before the door opened and professor McGonagall walked into the room.

Both Harry and Ginny looked very embarrassed by the sudden appearance of their headmistress. She it seemed, looked just as embarrassed and seemed to forget what she was about to say,

"Erm…" was all she managed, before turning and walking back out of the room.

Ginny burst out laughing and Harry couldn't help but join in. Just one minute earlier and she would have seen a hell of a lot more.

Ginny's laughing stopped suddenly when a head appeared in the fire.

"Ginny dear, Harry, erm hello there, sorry to erm, interrupt, but I wondered if I could ask you a favour?" asked the head of Mrs Weasley, "Can you keep an eye on Bill for me? I'm worried about him, and would feel a lot better if I knew you two were looking out for him!" with that she disappeared with a tiny pop.

"What…" asked Harry looking alarmed, first McGonagall, then Mrs Weasley, had neither of them ever heard of privacy?

"I forgot, the Head boy and girl's room has got a fire connected to the Floo network." Said Ginny looking sheepish, "Mum used to talk to Percy all the time!"

"No, I meant, why does she want us to look out for Bill?"

Ginny shrugged her shoulders, that was a bit of a mystery, her mum had been in such an embarrassed rush that she had forgotten to say why she was worried about him.

"I don't know!" she said, "I'll call her in the morning and ask! Now where's the bedroom in this place?" she asked and dropped the blanket, "I'm in need of saving, and you're my chosen one!"

_A/N: I think I got it all down. I thought it best to leave the chapter to one day long, I originally planned to put the first day in here too, but think that will make a better chapter on it's own._

_In the next chapter I'm hoping to write a little more about Ron and Hermione, I might even get adventurous and write some other characters in too, I'm not sure yet, might keep it simple until we're well into the term._

_Anyway, next chapter: Lessons start, and a nasty shock for Harry._

_Thanks for those who left me feedback and ideas after the last chapter, I appreciated your help and it gave me some great ideas. Lets see how they develop. Keep the feedback coming, I like your comments guys!_


	14. Chapter 14 A Troubled Teacher

**Chapter 14 – A Troubled Teacher**

Harry yawned as he walked slowly down the spiral staircase into the living area of their private quarters.

He and Ginny had spent most of the night exploring the different rooms in the small tower. They had found two huge bedrooms with large double four-poster beds, each room with a small study and en-suite bathroom. They both decided that one was slightly bigger than the other, and decided to adopt that one as their shared bedroom. Harry made sure that there were no portraits in the room, and pushed a chair against the back of the door, so that they definitely wouldn't be disturbed again. He smiled at the thought of their first night together in their own living space. Ginny couldn't keep her hands off him and he certainly didn't want to keep his own hands to himself.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs he heard Ginny's voice talking to someone. He stopped and listened, not wanting to walk into the room in just his shorts if they had a visitor.

"Yes mum, I know, like I said we'll both look out for him, I'll let Ron know too?"

Harry peered around the door and saw Ginny sat on the floor, cross-legged by the fireplace, she was dressed in one of Harry's t-shirts, pulled down over her knees, Harry grinned and dashed upstairs to put a top on.

Harry re-appeared at the bottom of the stairs a few minutes later, this time walking straight into the room. Mrs Weasley's head turned in the fire to look at him.

"Good morning Harry dear," she said in welcome. Ginny followed to explain the conversation they had been having.

"So Bill left Gringotts for this job? What's wrong with that?" Harry asked as he pieced the story together.

"Nothing normally, but if his contract wasn't over the Goblins won't be happy. Their thoughts on contracts are much different to ours, they won't normally let you leave unless you've served the full time in your contract."

"How long did Bill have left on his?"

"I don't know, he won't tell me! Fleur won't say anything either, I've already tried asking her!"

"Don't worry," said Harry after some thought, "Bill once gave me some advice on dealing with Goblins, I'm sure he knows what he's doing."

Neither Mrs Weasley nor Ginny looked convinced, but they decided to leave it at that.

"I'd better let the two of you go and get dressed, you don't want to be late for your first day of lessons."

Ginny rolled her eyes and said goodbye before heading for the bedroom, to get dressed for lessons.

The Great Hall was packed when they arrived for breakfast, the murmur of voices hushed a little as the couple walked through the door. Ginny blushed as she saw the dozens of eyes following her to her seat.

They found a space next to Ron and Hermione and sat down on the bench, Harry pulling a plate of toast towards them.

Hermione was lecturing Ron on his diet, complaining that his breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages, fried bread, beans and toast was hardly healthy.

Rom mumbled that he needed a hearty breakfast and snorted as Hermione pulled a bowl of muesli towards herself, declaring that it was a much better breakfast.

"Looks like something I'd feed to Pig!" he chuckled as she raised her spoon to her mouth, earning him a cold look.

The post arrived, and Harry instinctively looked up. He knew that Hagrid still had Fern and that he couldn't expect any post anyway this early into term, nevertheless two small owls swooped down and dropped an envelope each in front of him.

"Fan mail?" asked Ginny, he nodded and pushed the letters to one side.

"I'll open them later!"

Breakfast over, the heads of each house made their way down the house tables, handing out the timetables for the year.

Harry smiled when he saw Bill handing out the Gryffindor timetables.

"It was a good offer" He said as he handed them each a timetable. "Defence post, lots of time off and the Head of House job too. How could I refuse?"

"What about your job at Gringotts?" asked Ginny, trying to sound unconcerned.

Bill seemed to see through her questioning at once. "You've been talking to mum! Don't worry about it sis' Gringotts were fine about it!"

Bill handed out the last of the seventh year timetables and headed off to prepare for his first lesson.

Harry looked down at his own timetable and found to his surprise that their first lesson was going to be Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"That's hardly fair is it?" moaned Ron, "My own brother, teaching our first lesson. I was expecting a nice easy first day. No way is he going to take it easy on me!"

"Ron, this is our seventh year, it's not supposed to be easy! It doesn't matter who's lesson is first." Hermione replied. "The hard work will do you good!"

"At least we've got you 'mione!" Ron said in a creeping tone, "You've always been the best in the school!"

Ginny giggled at her brother trying to sweet talk his girlfriend. "Don't let him copy Hermione, about time he did his own work!"

Hermione didn't smile, but nodded.

The four of them stood up from the table and set off towards the door of the great hall.

"We'll catch up with you!" said Ron, holding Hermione back. Harry nodded and the headed off to class.

"What's wrong 'mione?" Ron asked, turning to face her, "you've been acting funny ever since we got here, what about last night, racing off to the library as soon as it was time for bed?"

Hermione just shook her head dismissing the subject immediately. "I don't want to talk about it!" she said, and turned her back on him, marching off to join the rest of the class leaving the hall.

Ron slumped down next to Harry and Ginny. "Dunno what's wrong with her, she's been off ever since we got back! Won't stay still for longer than five minutes!"

"Shhh!" said Ginny, pointing towards the front of the class, where Bill had appeared, dressed in dark robes, his scarred face looking grim at the front of the dark classroom.

"My name, for those of you who do not already know me, is Professor Weasley." He flicked his wand and his name appeared on the board. "Up until a few weeks ago I worked as a curse-breaker for Gringotts wizarding bank. As a curse breaker, you will be exposed to all manner of dark and dangerous magic. It's my job to make sure that your education is complete and that you are prepared for what might meet you in the outside world. There is no place for ignorance, arrogance or complacency when it comes to the dark arts, foolish acts lead to serious damage." He pointed at his scarring. "Should you make a mistake, it is essential that you learn from it. Not to learn from your mistakes is the biggest crime there is."

The room sat silent, enthralled by his speech.

"In your seventh and final year you will be required to demonstrate your knowledge of practical defence and also learn ways to break spells being used against you. For this first lesson though I would like you to demonstrate the defences you have learned up until now. Non-verbal spells will be mandatory in this class."

Ron moaned, Harry suspected that Ron's non-verbal skills were no better than his own. This lesson was going to be far from easy.

The rest of the days lessons were just as difficult. McGonagall, who was still teaching Transfiguration, in the absence of another available teacher, was also demanding non-verbal spells and Harry's potions work had suffered somewhat with the loss of Snape's textbook. Harry decided that at the first opportunity he would look in the Room of Requirement, to see if anything had been left undamaged by the fire.

After lessons Harry and Ginny made their way back up to their rooms. Harry changed their password with the statue and sat down on the sofa in the living area.

"Are you going to open those fan letters?" Ginny asked. Harry had almost forgotten the letters and fished around in his robes looking for the envelopes. Ginny took one from him and opened it, pulling out the parchment and unfolded it, she smiled and looked over to Harry, who suddenly let out a loud piercing yell of pain. The envelope in his hand dropped to the floor, spilling its contents onto the thick carpet rug. A creamy white coloured powder had fallen from the envelope and was forming on Harry's hands, like a scaly pair of gloves. He yelled in agony, his eyes glued tightly shut.

"HARRY!" yelled Ginny, hopelessly rushing to his side, pulling out her wand. She hadn't the faintest idea what to do. "Scourgify!" she cried, not able to think of a spell that could work against the quickly forming scales on his hands. Ginny was amazed to see that the scales began to flake and fall from his hands. Harry opened his eyes and looked at her.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, gasping still. Ginny shrugged her shoulders.

"I think we'd better go and see Bill." She pointed her wand at the staircase. "Accio gloves!" her dragon skin gloves appeared from the doorway and shot into her outstretched hand. She put them on and picked up what remained of the envelope and its contents.

A few minutes later they arrived outside Bills study. Ginny didn't bother to knock and pushed the door open, carrying the envelope in front of her. She stopped abruptly at the sight in the office.

Bill and Fleur were both standing, facing each other, both looking very angry, both looking like they had been arguing.

"What's going on?" asked Ginny, looking from one to the other.

"None of your business, what do you want?" Bill snapped, looking at her. He spotted the envelope in her hand and frowned. He picked up his own pair of gloves and took the envelope from her. Ginny explained what had happened, looking from Bill to Fleur, who simply ignored their presence. Bill looked a little more concerned though. Placing it on the desk he prodded the powder with his wand, creating a small cloud of smoke that briefly formed into a small coiled snake, before thinning and disappearing.

"Powdered snake skin, infused with essence of dittany! Clever…Hmm…"

Ginny looked at him with one eyebrow raised, her silent question obvious.

"Essence of dittany cleans and repairs wounds right?" said Bill, testing his sister, she nodded! "So adding another body to it makes it unstable, it doesn't know what it's repairing and so fuses the two together instead, painfully! In this case it fused snake skin into Harry's own."

Harry agreed that the pain had been excruciating.

Ginny told him how she had removed it and he nodded, "Yes the scales will only be on the surface, so like a shed snake skin you can remove just the top layer of skin the same as if you were cleaning."

"Who would send something like that?" asked Ginny looking horrified. Harry replied that he could think of dozens of suspects, mostly death-eaters or their families.

"I'll look into it, I'll let you know!" said Bill, taking the letter and shoving it into a drawer. "Do you think I could have my study back now?" he asked looking at Fleur as well. Harry and Ginny left, leaving Fleur behind, looking furious with Bill.

"What was all that about?" asked Harry, looking at his fiancée. She shrugged, thinking about Bill and Fleurs argument. Harry expected her to look upset at the nights events but instead he saw a fire in her eyes. They talked all the way back to their bedroom. Climbing into bed, Ginny still looked determined,

"Don't worry Harry, I'm going to find out who sent that letter and they're going to wish they had never heard the name Harry Potter!"

_A/N:This is a shorter chapter than some of my others but I've set the ball rolling now on a nice chain of events that should be interesting to watch unfold. I hope you liked this chapter. Let me know what you think and if you think you might know who sent the letter. (Early days yet, but rest assured it will be good!) As always you guys keep me writing, thanks for your support!_


	15. Chapter 15 Owls

Chapter 15 – Owls 

The next few weeks passed rather uneventfully. Harry was still wary of the morning post, hoping there wouldn't be any more owls delivering to him. Every morning he had watched the post arrive and felt a great relief when none of the owls came his way. Everyone else was getting stuck into lessons like never before, their interest in their subjects increased after almost a full year of inadequate or inappropriate training. Unsurprisingly though the level of homework was steadily increasing, the tasks being set getting much harder. Hermione alone seemed to relish the mountain of work they were being left to do night after night and was steadily surrounding herself with more and more books until it seemed that she must have more books than the school library. Harry was astonished to find out that Hermione was actually buying mostly her own books instead of borrowing them like everyone else. She had said that it was easier this way and that she didn't have to wait for a book, Harry just thought she was going mad. Harry and Ginny had both invited Hermione and Ron to use their spare study, as there had little space in the Gryffindor common room now that there were some additional seventh years using the tower. Madam Pince was getting even more strict with the library's opening times, chasing students from the place as soon as darkness fell.

Harry was amused to find Ron working just as hard as Hermione, surrounding himself with sheets of parchment and open textbooks. All his time spent with Hermione must be having a positive influence on him at last, although Harry did spot him glancing at Hermione's parchment once or twice, casually writing down an answer or two.

Harry was finding his own work slightly easier than usual, he had obviously learned a lot more in the previous year than he had first thought. His potions work was still suffering though due to his loss of Snape's old textbook. Harry decided that he would try the room of requirement that weekend.

Apart from Harry's dramas with his potions work, Ginny seemed to be the only one of the four of them who was struggling slightly. On more than one occasion she had snapped at Harry for disturbing her while she was doing her homework. Harry, who had only been offering her help, decided the best strategy was just to leave her alone and get on with his own work for a while. After another half an hour of Ginny's continuing muttering Harry decided he would try the room of requirement that night instead.

"I'm just off for a walk!" he announced, standing up and dropping his quill on top of his half finished essay on Skele-gro potions. Ginny muttered something under her breath which Harry took to be an acknowledgement of sorts and returned to her own essay on the healing properties of Welsh Fungi and their use in modern Herbology.

One of the things Harry liked most about being Head Boy was the freedom to walk the corridors whenever he liked, Before he had had to use his invisibility cloak and take extra care not to be spotted. Harry hummed quietly to himself as he headed towards the seventh floor corridor and the entrance to the room of requirement.

"I need to find my potions book" he though to himself as he walked up and down the corridor. Surely enough the door appeared in the wall and Harry found himself walking into a dark and smoky smelling room. The room had lost none of its size or grandeur, it still looked like a huge cathedral and to Harry's surprise it was still packed with lost, hidden and broken items. Harry was sure that it had all been burned in the fire, but strangely only the smell of the smoke remained. Perhaps it was the way of the room, to allow the previous owner to retrieve their objects, no matter what happened to them. Harry set off looking for the stained cupboard in which he had hidden his book. His mind raced back to the last time he had been in here, searching for the same place, the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. He had no difficulty in fining the place again. Opening the cupboard he found what he had been looking for, the book with its fake new cover still intact. Harry flicked through a few pages and smiled before setting off back to his dorm, maybe he could help Ginny out with her own essay and she would reward him for his help later. Harry smiled even wider and broke into a trot.

The new Quidditch season was fast approaching, Harry was excited at the prospect of flying again. Ginny had posted a notice for tryouts to be held that Saturday morning. Just to make sure, Harry had booked the Quidditch pitch for the whole day with Madam Hooch.

Quidditch it seemed was one of the few ways of getting Ginny to take a break from her homework for more than five minutes. Her and Harry were spending hours alone in their dormitory, going through tactics and plans, carefully studying Harry's book on Quidditch moves and painstakingly making notes. Harry was sure that they were going to have a great season.

When Saturday morning came Harry's high spirits were beginning to deflate slightly. Yet again the new hopefuls turning up for tryouts were a mix of celebrity hunting first years, giggling girls, and hopelessly useless Quidditch fans. As usual there was the contingent of hopefuls who didn't even own a broom, and instead flew on the ancient school brooms. Ginny discounted these almost immediately.

She was impressed however by a couple of second year girls who turned out to be very promising chasers, Demelza Robins who still played an excellent game as chaser and a couple of fifth year girls who nearly outplayed Peakes and Coote, Harry's old beaters. Ginny joked that the team was going to be an all-girl team at this rate. Ron scowled at her and flew back to his goal hoops, ready for the keeper tryouts.

He needn't have worried, for Ron appeared to be on top form, outplaying all of the other keeper hopefuls. Harry was disappointed to see that no-one had turned up to try out as seeker. He had been looking forward to pushing his abilities, as well as those of his new broom.

Ginny narrowed down her team and decided that she would need to hold further trials this afternoon to fine-tune her choices, especially the choice of beaters, Ginny was still undecided.

Ron walked past Harry and Ginny laughing, his broom slung over his shoulder, "Good luck with that decision!" he chuckled as he walked up towards the castle for lunch. Ginny turned to Harry who just smiled and shouldered his own broom before leading his girlfriend up for lunch.

The couple drew quite a bit of attention as they entered the Great Hall, they were both carrying their top of the range racing brooms, and were dressed in their Quidditch robes. Harry plonked himself down next to Ron and pulled a plate of sandwiches towards him. Before he had the chance to take a bite a large snowy owl landed on the table in front of him, clutching a dark brown envelope in her beak.

"Fern, you're better?" said Harry, tearing off the crust of his sandwich and offering it to her in exchange for the letter. She hooted and dropped the letter on the table, taking the bread from him before stretching out her wings to show him that she had recovered. Harry grinned at her and she hooted in approval before taking off back to the owlery.

"Who's it from?" asked Ginny looking interested. Harry turned the letter over and spotted the untidy large handwriting of Hagrid. He opened the letter and read it out loud.

_Dear Harry,_

_  
Would you Ron and Hermione like to join me for a spot of dinner later? About five would be good. Will be nice to catch up with all of you._

_Hagrid._

Ginny slumped down in her seat looking moody.

"Don't worry Gin, I'm sure he didn't mean to forget about you, it's just that it's been just the three of us for so long, you know what Hagrid's like, I'm sure he just forgot, why don't you come along anyway?"

Ginny shook her head at Harry's words.

"I've got too much homework to do anyway, and I've lost most of today thanks to Quidditch trials. You go, I'll be fine."

Harry didn't look convinced and tried to talk her round but Ginny refused again. Harry decided to let the subject drop.

The afternoon session was spent largely deciding who would be best to play as beaters. Ginny spent most of the afternoon getting the four hopefuls to practice their aim, by hitting bludgers towards small wooden targets. After yet another dead heat, Harry decided to make things more interesting by bewitching the targets to move around in the air. This seemed to do the trick, as the two girls Ginny had been so impressed with earlier in the day began to falter. Peakes and Coote however seemed to perform even better.

That was it, Ginny had made the decision, she thanked everyone for coming back and promised that the list of the team would be on the Gryffindor notice board the following morning. The hopefuls left the pitch heading straight back towards the castle. Harry turned to Ginny and winked at her.

"I'm going to take a shower!" he announced "You coming?" he took her hand and led her towards the team changing rooms. Once inside he pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her deeply.

"What here?" she whispered slightly shocked at his adventurousness, Harry grinned and nodded "There's no-one else around, and we'll never get to be alone in here any other time. It was Ginny's turn to grin as she pulled at Harry's robes and dragged him into the showers.

Harry arrived back at his dorm a little before seven, looking thoroughly tired.

"How was Hagrid?" asked Ginny, showing genuine interest,

"He's ok, just Hagrid really. He's been looking after Grawp mostly, seems to have calmed down a bit, Hagrid's not looking quite so bruised. Got loads to tell, He's been telling us all about the rebuild. Unfortunately he wanted to show us everything he had fixed, so we've been walking round the castle for ages."

"Fern cam with a couple of letters, one each. I thought I would wait until you came back before I opened mine, you know…just in case."

Harry knew that she was worried about a repeat of the other week, he nodded.

Ginny's fears were unfounded, both letters were identical and turned out to be invites from Professor Slughorn, to a small gathering in his office in a weeks time.

"Looks like the Slug Cub is back then!" chuckled Harry, "I might enjoy it this year you know, what about you?"

"Three guesses why we're being invited this time? The press is writing us up as the hottest young couple this century." Ginny said in a sarcastic voice and he laughed at her,

"Don't worry, if you get really bored you can always talk to me you know!" Ginny threw a cushion at him, which hit him squarely in the face, knocking his glasses off. Ginny howled with laughter and ducked as Harry sent one in her direction. Ginny was just about to throw the cushion back at him when there was a tap at the window. One of the school owls was perched on the window ledge with a small scroll held in its beak. Harry took the scroll and unrolled it.

"It's from Bill!" he said reading on, "Say's he's found some more out about that letter, wants us to go to his office tomorrow night after dinner."

Ginny looked nervous,

"You don't think he has any idea who sent it do you?" she asked taking his hand in her own. Harry shook his head.

"Probably found out there are some side affects, like your hand dropping off and strangling your girlfriend in her sleep." Ginny didn't look impressed.

Bill looked gloomy when he opened his office door to see the two of them stood outside. Bill was strangely dressed in an immaculate pair of jet black dress robes and stood behind him, looking stunningly beautiful was Fleur. Neither of them looked particularly happy, which Harry thought was strange as he suddenly remembered that it had to be Fleur's birthday anytime now.

Bill ushered them both into the room and sat at his desk, pulling a sheet of parchment and the suspicious envelope towards him.

I've been doing quite a bit of research these past few weeks, thanks to a little persuasion from my sister here," Ginny turned slightly red, "I found a book that describes a concoction that sounds exactly like the powder you found in that envelope." He placed a large brown leather book on the desk, the words 'Moste Horrible Curses for the Moste Unkind" were printed on the front in peeling gold letters. Bill opened the book at a page he had marked previously and turned the book round so that Harry and Ginny could read it.

The page contained the instructions for a ridiculously difficult potion that had to be left to dry-out in complete pitch darkness for six months, before forming a dry powder type substance that was highly contagious. Effects of the powdered potion were a deep scaling of the skin surface, eventually spreading all over the body and suffocating the skin, leading to a very slow and very painful death. Following death the scales disintegrate leaving no sign of the cause of death.

"Someone has been planning this for some time haven't they?" said Harry, sounding bitter

"Only a very skilled potion maker could make this!" added bill, sounding very sombre indeed.

"Why don't we ask Slughorn next week at his party?" asked Ginny, looking at Harry's worried expression, "If anyone knows about skilled potion makers it will be him, after all, he probably taught them."

Harry nodded, thinking with a sinking feeling bout the young man who had flattered and charmed the old potions master into divulging details on Horcruxes, Tom Riddle might not have been the only talented student to have turned to dark magic.

Harry thrust his hand into his pocket and pulled out the invite. 'One week.' He thought to himself.

Bill interrupted his thoughts, "Just be careful until then ok, watch what you open, If it's not delivered by your own owl, or one of the schools, don't open it, just bring it straight to me. Better to be safe than sorry!"

Bill bade them a good night and they set off back to their dorm.

"Strange," Ginny said half way down the corridor, "Fleur didn't say a single word, again! I wonder what's up with her." Harry took her arm and guided her down the corridor,

"I don't know, but maybe it's got something to do with what your mum said?" Ginny looked at him with interest,

"I knew I agreed to marry you for a reason, Brains as well as looks eh? Come on, you can help me with my homework." Ginny winked at him and blew him a promising kiss.

_A/N: What do you think? A few more clues but I'm not giving anything away just yet. School term is getting going now and I wanted to throw in Quidditch as It's one of my favourite parts of the books. Next chapter Ginny announces the team…and the story unfolds a little more. Thanks guys for reading I hope you continue to enjoy._


	16. Chapter 16 Hogsmeade Adventures

Chapter 16 – Hogsmeade Adventures 

The entrance hall was crowded with people waiting to go into Hogsmeade. As usual Filch was eyeing each student suspiciously, and waving the list of banned products under their noses. It appeared that his job was going to be easier because Zonko's was still closed up. Harry suspected that it would never open again. George had shown some interest but that was all, he hadn't sent any word of any plans.

Ginny gripped his hand and nodded towards the huge front doors which had opened, allowing the mass of students to spill out of the doorway and start trudging towards the village.

It was Halloween and unfortunately for the students deciding to spend their Saturday in Hogsmeade, the weather was typical Halloween-movie type rain, thunder and lightning. Harry ducked his head as the rain pelted him, flattening his hair in an instant. The drops of water streaked on his glasses, Harry removed them and tapped the lens muttering "Impervious." Ginny in the meantime had conjured a huge black umbrella and opened it to protect the two of them from the downpour.

Through the lashing rain, Harry could see small huddles figures scurrying towards the school gates. This was the first Hogsmeade visit since the start of term and everyone seemed determined to brave the weather and enjoy themselves.

Ron pulled his collar up, trying to protect himself from the wet that was streaming down his neck to soak his back, under his clothes. Hermione walked alongside him, carrying a small green umbrella, just big enough to protect her own head.

"You really should practice conjuring spells Ron, honestly at your age you really shouldn't have any difficulties you know. Ron grumbled that she should have conjured a larger umbrella like Ginny, but Hermione sunk back into the dull silence that had become her signature over the last few weeks.

Ron hoped that this trip to Hogsmeade would snap her out of her bad mood.

He carefully made to take her hand in his, but she recoiled hers and continued to ignore him. Ron kept silent as they walked up the high street, they got as far as The Three Broomsticks before Ron opened his mouth again.

"'Mione, what's wrong? You've been moody like this for…"

Hermione turned to face him, looking furious,

"Why has something always got to be wrong? Haven't you thought that I might have something on my mind, that I might just want a bit of privacy to think things through? Haven't you ever thought that maybe I just want you to shut your big fat mouth for longer than five minutes?" Hermione was bright red in the face, tear pricking her eyes.

"Well if that's what you think, then why don't you just spend the day on your own?" shouted Ron, before turning away and storming off up the street.

Harry and Ginny stood watching the pair from a few metres away. Hermione turned and saw Ginny, and rushed over into her arms before bursting into floods of tears. Ginny struggled to free her face from the tangle of bushy hair that had just engulfed her, struggling to face Harry, she jerked her head towards the rapidly retreating back of Ron, and muttered, "Go and sort him out will you?"

Harry nodded and took off up the street to catch up with Ron.

"Go away!" Ron muttered at his friend as Harry appeared by his side, soaking wet and gasping for breath after the short sprint.

"No!" he spat out between breaths, "You can't treat Hermione like that, you know she's nothing but a bag of Hormones right now!"

Ron just grunted and looked down at his feet, still walking up the street. Harry, finally having caught his breath, sighed deeply in despair, Ron could be so difficult at times, childish even. He grabbed him roughly round his upper arm and dragged him down a side street, force-marching him to the Hogs Head.

"Oww, gerroff!" muttered Ron as Harry Manhandled him through the door and sat him down on a rough wooden bench.

"Remember that book you gave me for my seventeenth?" Harry asked in a harsh voice, as if talking to a naughty child, "Well you and me are going to have a nice little chat on how you REALLY treat women, especially the ones who are pregnant! OK?"

Ron gulped and nodded his head, looking for a split second like the naughty child Harry had thought him to be.

Ginny sat Hermione down in a warm, cosy corner of The Three Broomsticks, handing her a handkerchief and pushing a hot Butterbeer in front of her. Hermione sniffed her thanks and continued to mop her eyes.

"What's all this about then?" asked Ginny in a kindly tone, taking the handkerchief and dabbing at Hermione's tears for her.

Hermione sobbed a little harder and buried her face in her hands, Ginny scooted closer to her friend and patted her back soothingly.

Hermione's shoulder heaved with each sob, and Ginny continued to stroke her back, offering the odd word of comfort. Eventually Hermione looked up from her hands, her eyes red and puffy, tear streaks clearly visible running down her face.

"I…I…went to Saint Mungo's the other day…just to have the…the…baby checked out…you know…" she sobbed a little more and Ginny took her hand as she continued, "I've been so stupid Ginny…so stupid…"

Ginny shook her head "No, you haven't, pregnancy is a wonderful thing, it doesn't matter how old you are, or how young, the main thing is that the baby is going to be loved!"

Hermione was shaking her head, tears streaming from her eyes again.

"But there is no baby!" she blurted out. Ginny was stunned, she stopped, mouth wide open,

"What…what do you mean, have you had a…"

"No! I mean there never was a baby in the first place, I got it wrong…how could I be so stupid?"

Ginny looked even more confused and worried, Hermione continued,

"I missed a period, I just automatically thought that seeing as how me and Ron had, well you know…" Ginny felt acutely embarrassed a her friend talking about her brother like that, but allowed her to carry on, "…well I thought that I must be pregnant!"

"But what about afterwards, surely you would have noticed since?"

"I asked the healers about that, they said it happens in muggle women sometimes when a friend or relative gets pregnant, they call it sympathetic pregnancy, it's when your brain is so convinced that you are pregnant that the body starts to copy the symptoms, that's why I was getting sickness and stuff like that…I…I…just didn't know any different!"

Ginny listened to Hermione speak, feeling the pain in her voice. Both her and Ron were convinced that they were having a baby, they had both got used to the idea, Hermione had even almost dropped out of school. And now it turned out that it was all just her imagination.

"Have you told Ron?"

"No, not yet, that's why we keep arguing, I don't know how to tell him, and whenever I try to think it over, he thinks I'm being funny and we start to argue." Hermione sniffed again, now managing to hold back her tears.

"You know you're going to have to just tell him you know, there's no point in dragging it out, you've just got to do it!"

Hermione nodded and sniffed again.

"Stay here and I'll find Harry, I'll get him to send Ron here, you can talk it through together before you get back to the castle."

Hermione nodded her thanks and Ginny stood up to leave. Before she could reach the door a sight stopped her dead in her tracks. Bill was stood by the bar with fleur, and for once they looked really happy. Both Bill and fleur were smiling and laughing. Ginny smiled and ducked out of the door, going in search of Harry and her brother. She had barely made it out of the doorway before the two boys nearly knocked her over.

"Oh, we were just coming to find you!" said Harry, picking her up off of the wet floor and removing the worst of the mud from her clothes with his wand. "Hermione not with you?"

"She's in there," she replied pointing to the inside of the pub, Ron drew a deep breath and walked through the door.

"That was easy!" said Harry astonished.

"Not really, it's a bit complicated!" Ginny continued to explain the earlier discussion. Harry was gob smacked.

"Poor Hermione!"

"Probably best if we just leave them to it, we'll see them later on for the feast!" Ginny took Harry's hand and set off up the street.

They had taken all of three steps before a sight hit the both of them that stopped them dead in their tracks.

A huge flashing sign was mounted above a small, stripy tent, in which a Blonde witch in purple robes stood, handing out sheets of paper.

It wasn't the tent or the witch that had made the couple stop though, it was the 6 foot image of Fred and George that was looking down at them from the sign. Under their faces rippling purple letters spelled out the announcement,

Coming soon… 

_Weasley's Wizard Wheezes_

_All the fun from 'The Alley' brought closer to school_

_Pick up your express order forms today._

The blonde witch in the small tent smiled at them as they approached,

"You must be Ginny!" she said as they approached, "There's no mistaking the family likeness there!" She chuckled and winked at her, "George has told me so much about you! My name's Francine by the way." She shook hands with both of them and gave them a flyer. "We're doing Owl order until the shop's ready!"

Harry looked down at the sheet and an idea formed in his head. It would take some careful planning and he didn't have a great deal of time, but it would be well worth it he thought. He turned to Ginny and whispered his idea into her ear, she nodded enthusiastically. Harry quickly filled in the order form and wrote a brief covering note then hurried up the street towards the post office.

"Why can't you use Fern?" asked Ginny reminding him that his new owl hadn't had too much work to do lately.

"She's off doing another couple of jobs for me, besides it would be too late by the time we've got back to the castle.

Once the owl had gone Ginny led Harry back to The Three Broomsticks. "I just want to have a chat with Bill!" she said, leading him towards the bar.

"Geeeny!" squealed Fleur throwing her arms around Ginny's neck and kissing her on both cheeks, "'Ow are you? And 'Arry aswell! I'm so sorry zat I ignored you beefore!" she said in her heavily accented voice.

"Fleur is having a baby!" explained bill hugging his sister and shaking Harry by the hand. Harry thought it was strange to be this familiar, after all just yesterday they had been sat in a classroom together, firmly maintaining the teacher – student gap.

Fleur continued to explain that Bill had taken the job at Hogwarts to make sure that they had a good income so they could look after the baby properly. Harry congratulated them both but felt a pang of guilt that his two best friends were sat in the corner of the very same room discussing the fact that they were no longer having a baby.

"Still doesn't explain why Fleur was so moody when we last saw them!" Ginny said as they were walking back up to the castle. "Why would she be so sullen if they already knew she was pregnant?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders saying nothing. Ginny soon changed the subject to their plans for the evening. "Do you think George will do it?" she asked her excitement clearly showing.

"I would hope so, when has George ever passed up on an opportunity like this?"

Ginny grinned at him her teeth sparkling in the dusk. Harry leaned down and kissed her, stopping his stride briefly to deepen the kiss.

"You shouldn't do that in the open, you never know who's watching!" said a voice from behind them, Harry jumped and turned to see the owner of the voice. Luna laughed at his surprise and walked around them carrying on towards the castle.

"Did you know she was there?" asked Harry, Ginny grinned and shook her head,

"Does it matter who see's us?"

"No!" he replied and kissed her again.

The Halloween feast as usual was superb, the great hall had been decorated for the occasion with no fewer than one hundred floating pumpkin lanterns, that Professor Flitwick had spent the best part of a week, carving into different faces. Harry could have sworn at one point that one of the faces looked just like Dumbledore as it floated round the room, smiling and winking at everyone.

The house ghosts were putting on a small display for the students, either re enacting their own deaths or that of someone else famous, to huge rounds of applause.

Unnoticed by the rest of the hall, Fern flew in through one of the high windows and glided down to land in front of Harry. She held out her leg so Harry could untie the small scroll tied to her leg.

Harry unrolled it and showed Ginny, It read;

_All set, hold on to your flobberworms!_

Suddenly the lights went out, plunging the hall into darkness only lit by the dim candlelight shining from the pumpkin faces, which shot to the edges of the room and lined up, looking inwards. A small flame shot from the doorway, heading for the middle of the room, growing larger and larger until it grew as tall as a man and formed the figure of a flaming wizard who announced, "They're coming!" before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

No sooner had the figure disappeared than four ghostly figures appeared in the room. These figures didn't look like the house ghosts though, they looked more like Hollywood movie ghosts, pearly white shapeless creatures, rattling chains and moaning. The occupants of the hall screamed as the contents of their plates turned to writhing masses of worms.

The hall was suddenly lit up by a barrage of fireworks high above everyone's heads, one firework exploded above the staff table spelling the words;

_Weasleys Wizard Wheezes Wishes you a very Happy Halloween_

At the sight of the words, the worms turned back into food and more fireworks were released. The students cheered at the display, whooping when a particularly large firework came closer, and laughed when they decided to dance with other fireworks.

Harry leaned over to Ginny and whispered in her ear,

"Lets get out of here while nobody's looking, I've got something to show you!"

Ginny raised an eyebrow but followed him out the hall and into the school.

Not too long later, Harry was leading her down the tunnel that led to Honeydukes' cellar.

Once out in the street Harry took her hand and led her off into the village, finally arriving outside the restaurant where they had been on their first date.

"Happy six month anniversary!" he said kissing her.

Ginny flung her arms round his neck and hugged him tight,

"Harry, you're wonderful, but a bit of warning would have been nice, we're still in our school robes."

"No we're not!" He grinned sneakily tucking his wand back into his pocket. Ginny looked don, they were dressed in the same clothes they had been that same night six month previously.

"You really are something else Harry Potter, you know that?"

Harry nodded smiling and led her inside.

Several hours later and both slightly tipsy Harry and Ginny stumbled into their bed room.

"So Mr Potter, are you going to repeat the rest of our first date then?"

Harry pushed his girlfriend towards the bed, kissing her fiercely. He pulled the straps of her dress off her shoulders and pulled it from her. Ginny realised that when Harry had swapped her clothes he had conveniently forgotten to give her any underwear, so now she stood naked in front of him.

Harry groaned at the sight, it was clear he wanted her right now. His eyes drank in every inch of her body, from her firm plump breasts to the curve of her waist and hips. Ginny stood close t him and removed his wand from his pocket, in an instant Harry was also stood naked, his desire for her plain to see. Ginny took in the sight herself before taking him to the bed and lying back on in, as Harry climbed on top of her. Ginny groaned as Harry's head lowered between her legs, she loved the feeling of his tongue against her. She pushed her fingers into his hair, loving the feeling of what he was doing to her. She arched her back as his tongue bored down into her, throwing her head back and groaning. Harry moved up her body, kissing as he went, as he reached her breasts he stopped and teased each nipple, ensuring that they were hard against her warm body, he moved is hands caressing the firm mounds, making her groan even more, as he kissed up towards her neck, Ginny could feel Harry between her legs, spreading her open, filling her, and her body burned for him. Ginny arched her back again and again as Harry made her insides burst with pleasure. After what seemed like a lifetime the couple collapsed, panting and sweating into each others arms.

Ginny woke up in the early hours of the morning and jumped out of bed. She had got so caught up in Harry that she had completely forgotten about the Quidditch team list. She dragged a sheet of parchment out of her bag that sat by the door, and grabbed a quill.

Harry watched her write the list, marvelling at the sight of her sat naked at the small desk.

"What you doing?" he asked.

"Quidditch list, you made me forget!"

"Who's on the team?"

"Seeker – you, Chasers – me, Demelza and that young girl Fiona, Beaters Coote and Peakes, Keeper – Ron."

Harry mused the list for a second and hummed his approval.

"You want me to take it to the common room?"

"If you want! Make sure you come back quickly though!"

Harry nodded and pulled on a pair of jeans. Ginny blew him a kiss as he left the room and headed back to the bed.

Harry quietly crept into the Gryffindor common room pinned the list to the notice board and crept out again, heading back to Ginny and the warm bed. As he headed back down the corridor towards their tower he heard voices, raised voices. He slowed his pace and tried harder to listen, he couldn't make out any words, but could tell that it was two men's voices, both raised in anger. The voices suddenly stopped and Harry heard footsteps coming in his direction. He ducked quickly behind a tapestry, hiding. One of the men came storming round the corner. He was on his own and Harry dared to peek out from behind the tapestry to see Bill's rapidly retreating robes billowing behind him.

Harry stepped out from behind the tapestry and paused for a moment, why had Bill been arguing, and who had he been arguing with? He walked back to his tower head swimming with questions.

_A/N: I hope you all like this chapter, I'm quite proud of it. Let me know what you think. I know that Hermione's false pregnancy will cause a bit of a stir and some people will not like the idea, but I thought it an interesting idea and I knew that Ron and Hermione weren't ready for a child anyway! It is possible and I'm interested as to what you guys thin. I really appreciate your comments. Next chapter Quidditch training and clues for Harry._


	17. Chapter 17 The taming of the slug

Chapter 17 – The Taming of The Slug 

"Finished!" Harry announced in triumph, flourishing his quill and placing it on the desk. Ginny was still scribbling away behind him at her own desk. Harry stretched his arms and yawned then closed his copy of Advanced potion-Making.

"Slughorn should be pleased with that one, took hours to copy Snape's notes!" he grinned. Ginny looked over at him and smiled back, winking.

Harry kissed Ginny's neck then left the room and went down the stairs to sit in their private common room.

A few minutes later she finished her own homework and joined him sitting in front of the fire. Harry was talking to the disembodied head of Andromeda, in the fire, Ginny said hello and joined the conversation.

"He won't change his hair you know! Likes yours! Little tyke. Are you planning to visit at Christmas? I'm sure he would like to see you, you too Ginny dear."

Ginny smiled and nodded "That would be lovely, and I can't wait to see our favourite Godson again!" she winked at Harry.

"Anyway, I had better be off and let you two love birds get on with your school work!"

The three of them said their goodbyes and Harry promised to send Teddy an Owl or two a week that Andromeda would read to him. He probably wouldn't understand the words but Harry got a warm feeling from writing them. Maybe Andromeda could save them up and Teddy could read them when he was older.

Harry was distracted from his daydream by Ginny who had stood on his foot.

"That's better, I've been trying to get your attention for ages. Are you getting dressed, or are you coming down for breakfast in that?"

Harry looked down at the long shirt that was all he was wearing,

"What? Uh, oh, sorry, this last-minute homework stuff isn't doing me much good. We really should've finished that essay last night you know!"

"Yeah I know, but I wasn't the one doing all the distracting, it's your own fault if you can't keep your hands to yourself!"

Harry blushed and grinned at her,

"You loved the attention though, I didn't see you fighting me off!"

"Well I'm only a poor defenceless little witch, I can't stand up to the great and powerful Harry Potter, I just had to let him have his way with me!" she punched him on the arm and sent him upstairs to get dressed properly.

Harry and Ginny sat down at the Gryffindor table opposite Hermione, Ron it seemed was conspicuous only by his absence from the table. It wasn't like Ron to miss breakfast, or even be late for it for that matter.

"Are you two permanently joined at the hip?" asked Hermione as Harry helped himself to a large bowl of steaming hot porridge.

Ginny took a bite of toast and nodded, turning her own attention to the marmalade.

"Where's Ron, thought he would be down here stuffing his face?" asked Harry.

"He's been and gone, went to get some flying practice in before morning lessons."

Ginny looked surprised. Ron was really going for it this term, He had been practicing at every possible opportunity. Ginny had called a team practice session this evening, so would see how well he had been getting on.

Harry, Ginny and Hermione finished their breakfast and stood to leave for their first lesson.

"Wait, wait!" called a voice from behind them, they turned and saw the huge figure of Professor Slughorn wobbling down the steps from the front of the hall, and waving at them. "You won't forget that there's a little meeting in my study this evening, just a few nibbles and some pleasant company you know!"

"Erm professor…" started Ginny, "We've got Quidditch practice this evening, I'm not sure Harry and I will be able to make it."

Slughorn waved down her comments,

"Quidditch won't take all night, just drop by after your practice, I'm sure your house team is good enough to sacrifice a little practice. You don't have much hope of beating Slytherin anyway!" he chuckled at his last comment and slapped Harry hard on the back, making him stumble forwards. Slughorn marched off towards the dungeon classroom he occupied.

"What did he mean, we don't have much hope of beating Slytherin? That's the most important one! And it's first, next Saturday!" Ginny sounded horrified, what did Slughorn know that she hadn't found out? Ginny had been meticulous in her research of the other teams, the Slytherin team was mostly made up of younger students, there were no veterans left on the team, most of them having left the school after the events of the previous year, others keeping a low profile. Ginny had spied on their practice sessions and found them mostly hopeless. She hadn't however seen their seeker, and that worried her, it was an unknown and she didn't like unknowns. "We're going to have to miss his party and train even harder!"

Harry shook his head and shot her a look of warning.

"We can't, you know we need to keep on his good side, we're still trying to find out who could have sent that letter, remember? If we don't go to the slug club it will take even longer to get him to talk."

Ginny looked annoyed, Harry could tell that she didn't like the idea of cutting training short, but she nodded and turned silently to go to charms.

Ginny was developing a certain flair for charms work. This term they were learning how to place and remove memory charms. Hermione, having some practice in the area was naturally gaining top marks in the lessons, closely followed by Ginny. Harry was finding memory charms surprisingly easy too, only once causing his partner, Ron to dribble absently onto the desk.

Ron was struggling with his charm and had not yet progressed onto human subjects. He was still practicing on goldfish. His first attempt of the morning had caused the fish to forget how to swim, falling to the bottom of the bowl. Hermione sighed and restored its memory with a flick of her own wand.

"You're supposed to be implanting a memory Ron, not removing it!"

Ron didn't fare much better in their next lessons either. By the time they got to potions his temper was flaring dangerously. Harry had been pairing himself with Ginny all day so as to try to avoid Ron's foul mood. Hermione was muttering instructions under her breath, trying to make sure Ron's potion wasn't a complete disaster. Harry, with a little help from the Half-Blood Prince was firmly back at the top of the class. Slughorn had written off his initial potion making disasters as a result of his being off-school for a whole year. Harry admitted he had done very little potion making since the end of his sixth year, but was glad now that he had retrieved his book. Slughorn certainly seemed delighted by the results of his work.

Ginny was really starting to shine in lessons, much to both Ron and Hermione's frustration, she seemed to be becoming a natural in everything she did, Harry too was becoming somewhat of a shining star in his own right, despite his obvious fame, his class work was improving rapidly. Slughorn took great pride in announcing that his favourite two students were in love and that their love made their magic stronger. Harry was reminded of Dumbledore's thoughts of love being an old and powerful kind of magic and decided that Slughorn's words could be true, why not?

Ron left the classroom first, still in a bad mood, avoiding an argument Harry hung back with Ginny leaving Hermione to go after Ron. Harry decided to try asking Slughorn about potion makers, but the professor had already left the room.

The Quidditch pitch was deserted when Harry and Ginny arrived ready for training, Harry looked around the pitch, looking for the rest of the team, but found no-one.

"Have they forgotten?" he asked, looking at Ginny, who returned his gaze and looked surprised.

"Oh, we must be early! Why don't we have a quick fly around the pitch," she said, "just to warm up obviously!" she added with a wink.

Harry chuckled, she had planned this on purpose, wanting another chance to beat him in a race. He mounted his broom and kicked off flying quickly up into the air before circling round his girlfriend, Making her hair fly in the rush of wind as he passed her. Ginny grinned and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She kicked off the ground hard and shot upwards like a rocket, heading straight for Harry. She screamed to a halt right next to him, leaned over for a kiss and then muttered, "GO!" before the pair of them shot off towards the far end of the pitch. Ginny gave it all she could to beat him to the centre goal hoop, but somehow Harry made it first, pulling a suicidal turn, he shot back up the pitch towards the opposite end. Ginny followed closely, smiling wide with the sheer pleasure of it.

Neither of them noticed the rest of the team arriving for practice and instead continued to tear around the pitch at faster and faster speeds. The rest of the team stopped and watched in awe of the couple. A couple of them gasped as they rocketed round the goal hoops and cheered when one overtook the other. Ron dropped his moody attitude and stared up at his best mate and his sister racing around the pitch. How had she learned to fly as well as Harry he thought to himself. Finally Harry spotted their audience and waved to Ginny, she grinned mischievously and turned her broom to race Harry back to the ground. Both hurtled towards the surface of the pitch, the rest of the team flinching as both flyers pulled out of the steep dive at the last moment and hopped off their brooms. They erupted into rounds of applause and cheered until they here hoarse. Ginny blushed at their praise and Harry tried to look casual.

"How did you learn to fly like that?" an astonished Ron asked his sister.

"Well you tend to get good when you watch a great flyer every chance you get, and then try to beat him. It's called determination Ronald!" She winked at Harry as Ron stood open-mouthed looking at his sister.

"I've got determination!" he complained,

"Show me then!" she challenged him, and without another word he flew up to his position in front of the goal hoops.

Ginny settled the team down and began their training session starting with the chasers shooting against Ron, who had a look of firm concentration on his face. Apparently his hours of extra practice were paying off because he was on better form than ever before. He caught every single quaffle that came near the hoops and threw them so hard back own the pitch that they nearly reached the opposite goals. After what seemed like hours practicing this as a new tactic, and well after the sun had set, Ginny called them all back in.

"Well done everybody, that was a fantastic practice. Jimmy, you just need to keep an eye on the quaffle and follow it with your bludger, Demelza you need to vary the hoop you go for, you seem to keep heading for the left hand hoop, I'm sure Slytherin will notice that and try to use it against us. Harry, we still don't know who Slytherin are going to play as seeker, so you need to catch the snitch quickly. Ok everybody? Well done and I'll see you all tomorrow night."

Ginny had arranged training sessions for every night that week leading up to their first match. The team shouldered their brooms and walked off to get changed.

"Just old Sluggy next then!" said Harry taking Ginny's arm.

The couple went straight to Slughorn's study, still dressed in their Quidditch robes and taking their broomsticks with them.

"Ah Harry, Ginny, come in, come in!" Slughorn's voice sounded merry and excited, "Come and meet the others." Slughorn stood up and swept the pair into the room, Hermione was sat at the top of the room, looking distinctly awkward , next to her, and seated in a circle around Slughorn's chair were two Ravenclaws who were introduced as Orla Quirke and Judith Banbury, two Hufflepuffs, Rose Zeller and a boy Harry recognised as Summerby, Cedric's replacement as Seeker on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. A single Slytherin boy sat quietly in a corner and was introduced as Malcolm Baddock. "And this young man here," Slughorn announced proudly, "Is Oliver Blott. Oliver is heir to the premier Wizarding bookshop, flourish and Blotts." Oliver looked embarrassed at being singled out like this, Harry suspected Slughorn had invited them all for a specific reason, as always Slughorn was making contacts in places that would serve him some good.

"I'm sure you all already know Harry and Ginny here, the daily prophet is calling them the couple of the year!" he addressed the seated students, as Harry slunk into a free seat. "Judith's father works as a reporter for the prophet, she tells me that a medal for magical merit is on the cards and certainly an Order of Merlin. First Class I'd say! Minerva is going to present him another award for special services to the school, and if I'm not mistaken he's just won the Witch Weekly Magazine Most Charming Smile Award." Harry tried to bury himself to hide his embarrassment. Ginny nudged him, giggling quietly. Lockhart had previously won this award, and Harry really didn't like the idea of being associated with him again.

"Most charming smile eh?" she whispered to him. He scowled in return.

As Slughorn's meetings go Harry didn't think it was too bad, for a start the room wasn't flooded with Slytherins, Malcolm was keeping very quiet and didn't even eat much when Slughorn offered round a plate of small fruit pies.

Orla Quirke turned out to be related to a senior member of the department for magical law enforcement, Rose's mother was a very talented robe designer, who supplied robe designs all over the world.

The conversation soon turned to Quidditch, Ginny tried as carefully as she could to ask Slughorn who Slytherin would be plying as Seeker,

"Ohoho!" he cried, "Now young lady, that really would be telling wouldn't it? I don't want to give you lions too much of a chance do I?" he chuckled at his own comments and steered the conversation away from the subject. "Now Harry here is quite the potion maker, I'm almost certain that given a little more time I will be able to add his name to my list of all time great potion makers." Harry suddenly sat bolt upright in his chair.

"List of what sir?" he asked carefully,

"…All time great potion makers, your mother is on there! She was a true natural! I'm hoping to get my list published you know, tell the world about the great and the good!" Harry was sure that his comments were made for the benefit of Oliver, in the hope that he would mention it at home and therefore provide him with an outlet for what could be a very lucrative book.

Harry decided he had to see that list.

"Professor, do you think I could have a look at that list please?"

"Harry m'boy, It's much more than a list, It's a proper manuscript for a book, details who has done what, and how they did it! It's a lifetime's work. I'm sure you can wait until my book is published before you read it, sure you understand m'boy." With that he again steered the subject away and started to talk to Orla.

Harry looked to Ginny and Hermione who both immediately understood what he wanted. Hermione closed her eyes and nodded Ginny took his hand and gave it a squeeze. He was going to find the list, all he had to do was find out where Slughorn kept it.

"I'm going to need your help." He whispered to Ginny. She nodded and turned to whisper in his ear,

"Ok, but lets flatten Slytherin first!" Harry grinned at her words and squeezed her hand in reply. The room was slowly emptying, the other guests leaving for their common rooms, Slughorn was watching them out of the corner of his eye. He winked at them, "Couple of the year indeed!" he chuckled, "I hope my invite to the wedding is one of the first to come!" he added, "Just like your mother…" leaving Slughorn to mutter to himself, Harry and Ginny stood and left the room and headed back to their room.

A/N: I hope you all liked the chapter, every time I write my story seems to extend just a little more. I've got a definite story I want to get out, but I also want to fill the 19 years until the prologue, so I've got quite some more to go. Lol. Next chapter, the first Quidditch match of the term, and Ron gets a headache.


	18. Chapter 18 The Sneak and The Snitch

Chapter 18 – The Sneak and The Snitch 

The first Quidditch match of the term was always an exciting event. The whole school looked like they were turning out for the match. The Great Hall was packed full of people hoping to get an early breakfast then head out to the Quidditch pitch, to get a good seat.

The great Hall erupted in cheers every time a player walked into the hall, both Harry and Ginny looked eagerly at the sound of each cheer, trying to catch a glimpse of the Slytherin seeker, but either everyone was sworn to secrecy, or they simply didn't know.

Harry had a knot of anticipation in his stomach. He hated facing the unknown and this new seeker was definitely an unknown.

Ginny looked nervous, taking small bites of her toast, and chewing for a long time. Harry tried his best to look cheerful in an attempt to brighten her up, but there was no disguising his own fears.

Harry thought how strange it was that after all these years of fighting and danger, that something as small as a Quidditch match could affect him in this way. He understood Ginny's feelings, after all this was her first mach as captain of the team, her reputation as a serious Quidditch player rested on the outcome of this first match.

Ron was looking positively sick. Harry knew that this was not unusual. Ron always looked green before a match, he would be fine once he got out to the pitch.

Ginny looked around her team all sat around her at the breakfast table,

"Right, shall we do this?" she said, trying her best to sound confident and inspiring.

The team stood up from the table and walked towards the doors. The cheers and applause of the Gryffindor table, wishing their team good luck, drowned the sound of eating. The team walked out of the hall and off towards the pitch and the changing rooms.

"I'll just go and get our brooms shall I?" asked Harry, as they left the hall. Due to their value, Harry had refused to keep their brooms in the school broom shed, where they were supposed to be kept, and instead kept them in the spare study in their private rooms.

Ginny nodded and took the rest of the team out of the castle and off towards the changing rooms. Harry sprinted up the stairs to retrieve the brooms.

Skidding around a corner, Harry heard raised voices again, and immediately stopped in his tracks, listening. Both voices were unmistakably male again, and Harry could tell they were adults, not students. He crept closer and caught a few words, the voice that replied was Bill's.

"No, no, no! Those letters were completely out of order, it's not your place to send that kind of thing. Just leave it to me ok? I will sort it out!"

Harry felt a lurch in his stomach. Had Bill known who had sent the letters all along? Was he in league with them. Harry had to muster all of his self control not to face him there and then. He knew he needed proof if Ginny was going to believe him. He turned direction and took a different route to his rooms, he picked up their brooms and sprinted back to the pitch as quickly as he could.

"What kept you?" asked Ginny as Harry dropped the brooms and tore his robes off, fighting with his Quidditch robes at the same time.

"I – bumped – into – Bill – in – the – corridor." He panted, pulling the crimson robes over his head. He continued to describe what he heard as a puzzled Ginny listened.

"We'll have to talk to him about it!" Ginny said. She had not suggested it to Harry, more told him that that was exactly what they WERE going to do.

Harry nodded, deciding that they didn't need a disagreement before their first match.

Ginny kissed Harry n the forehead and squeezed his bottom, winking at him before calling the team around her for a last minute pep-talk.

"Ok, we've trained harder than Slytherin, we've trained longer than Slytherin, we ARE better than Slytherin. Lets get out there and show them!" The team beamed at her, by now even Ron was pumped up and raring to go.

The weather was surprisingly good, there were few clouds in the sky and the sun was shining down on the grassy pitch floor. There was a bit of a chill wind, but nothing to worry about.

Harry looked around the team trying to find their seeker. His eyes connected with a small blonde haired boy, the spitting image of a twelve year old Malfoy. Harry was taken aback for a moment. It couldn't be another Malfoy, he had no other relatives as far as he knew, but the resemblance was uncanny. Harry had other reasons to worry. At eighteen years old, he was much bigger and much heavier than the blonde boy, and even though Harry had a very good broom, he had a sneaking suspicion that the young Slytherin would also know how to fly. After all the Slytherin teams' Nimbus 2001's were still a decent quality broom.

Ginny was called forward to shake hands with the Slytherin captain, a stocky looking fifth year boy with dark sunken eyes. Ginny briefly touched his hand with hers before withdrawing it and flying off to take her position.

The Slytherin captain, a beater, picked up his bat and scowled at her back as he mounted his broom and slowly flew to his own position.

Madam hooch blew her whistle and the balls were released from their box.

Ron started to circle his goal hoops, shouting encouragement to the rest of the team, as Ginny took hold of the quaffle and darted towards the Slytherin end.

The Slytherin captain however ignored her and headed straight for the Gryffindor goals, hitting a nearby bludger as hard as he could towards the goals, he smiled menacingly as the bludger made contact with Ron, with a sickening thud. Ginny herd a crack and looked back, to see Ron falling from his broom. She was so distracted that one of the Slytherin chasers took the quaffle from under her arm and sped towards the Gryffindor goal.

"Ronald Weasley seems hurt in some way!" said a dreamy voice from the commentators stand, Ginny looked round to see Luna once again describing the game play. "Madam hooch seems to be trying to break his fall." Surely enough Ron's speedy descent slowed dramatically, before he thudded into the soft grass. "Harry Potter seems to be more interested in his friends injury than the game though, he's abandoned the search for the snitch and is speeding to Ronald's side."

'Idiot' thought Ginny, 'He should know better than to abandon his post just for an injured player!'

Quidditch players were often knocked off their brooms or injured in some way and Harry himself had taken his fair share of injuries on the pitch. Ginny shook her head in anger and shot off in pursuit of the quaffle.

Harry saw Ron fall and for a brief moment felt an urge to swoop down and catch his friend, then he saw madam Hooch, her wand outstretched, and returned to his scanning of the pitch. Then he saw it. The blonde Slytherin seeker was flying in a straight line down the pitch, trying to reach the Gryffindor end as quickly as possible. Harry looked around for the reason why, and saw a brief glimmer of gold and the flutter of wings in front of Ron's face. Harry pushed his broom forward and into a steep dive, heading straight for Ron.

Ron groaned on the ground, his stomach feeling like someone had just tried to punch it up through his throat. He opened his eyes and saw Harry flying through the air straight for him,

"What the – Harry, No!" he cried and tried to scramble out of the way.

Harry pulled out of his dive at the very last moment, snatching the fluttering snitch from in front of Ron, before pulling up steeply.

Ron rolled to the side to try and avoid Harry colliding with him, but instead rolled straight into the path of Harry's broom tail. The tail hit him hard in the forehead, knocking him out cold. Harry's broom pitched forwards and threw him onto the ground, still holding the snitch in his outstretched arm. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the match was over.

Luna sounded shocked,

"The shortest game of Quidditch in Hogwarts history! Seventeen seconds of play and Harry Potter caught the snitch in a daring dive. Of course it was easy to see what he was going to do, and that's a huge slap in the face for the new Slytherin seeker. Does anyone know his name by the way?"

Harry laughed at her words as the rest of the team landed around him, cheering and clapping him on the back. Ginny smiled at him and said,

"You're amazing, you know that?"

Harry pulled her into a hug,

"Not so bad yourself!" he murmured and kissed her.

"How's Ron?" Ginny asked looking round to the spot where he had fallen.

Madam Hooch was kneeling over him, checking him over for any other injuries, "He's just out cold, should come round in a while, but he's going to have one hell of a headache."

Harry groaned,

"Oh no, he's insufferable when he's got a headache, and Hermione is going to kill me!"

"She'll have to come through me first, said Ginny, looking defiant.

Ginny knocked loudly on her brother's study door. Harry had never quite seen her this angry before. She waited barely two seconds before pounding on his door again, causing a flurry of movement from inside, and prompting an outcry from Bill,

"Alright, alright, hold onto your horntails!"

Bill opened the door and was immediately attacked by his sister.

"What do you know about these letters then? I know you know something, you've been herd arguing about them, who have you been arguing with/ who sent the letters? Are you in league with them? How could you? What's Harry ever done to you?"

Ginny spat all of the questions out in a long tirade of noise. Bill flinched back away from her anger instinctively, before gathering himself and coming back on the offensive.

"What are you talking about? How dare you eavesdrop on my conversations. Those letters I was talking about are none of your business! Get out of my office. GET OUT!" Bill slammed the door in his sisters face, his fury exploding at her. Ginny stared at the blank door in front of her face.

"None of my business? We'll see about that!" she shouted grabbing Harry by the arm and pulling him away from the room, and back to their own.

Ginny was still fuming when they reached their private common room. Harry tried his best to calm her down.

"No Harry, something is wrong with him and I'm going to find out what, it's not Fleur's pregnancy then, so it's got to be the letters. I'm going to write to Fleur, maybe I'll get some sense out of her."

Harry sighed and agreed,

"I'll get fern to take it, she's out delivering a letter to Teddy at the moment, but I'll send her as soon as she gets back, ok?"

Ginny nodded, not looking at him, and started to scribble her note to Fleur on a blank piece of parchment.

Once she had finished her letter Ginny's mood seemed to lighten and Harry turned their subject of conversation back to the mornings Quidditch match.

"Another great Quidditch moment by the great Harry Potter!" teased Ginny, "You know you're in danger of outshining your captain! I'm the one who's supposed to wow the audience remember?"

Harry chuckled and apologised,

"What I want to know is who the hell their seeker was, did you notice who he looked like?"

Ginny nodded,

"Weird isn't it?" she said thinking of the boy's appearance, "It's like he's got a little brother or something!"

"But Malfoy hasn't got any other family other than his parents has he? I didn't see anyone else when we were taken to Malfoy Manor."

"So who was it?" asked Ginny, just as confused.

"I just don't know!" said Harry, "Maybe McGonagall might know?"

Ginny agreed and they decided that they would ask her in their next lesson.

"What about your mum?" asked Harry, "Are you going to tell her about what's going on? You did tell her in the fire that you would let her know."

Ginny thought about this for a moment or two,

"No, I don't think so, I want to find out the facts first!"

Harry kissed her and stroked her face gently,

"You're getting as bad as me you are!" he said, the pair of them laughed and collapsed onto the sofa.

The head that had been watching them from the fire grinned and disappeared with a tiny pop. Neither Harry nor Ginny had noticed him and he laughed at their ignorance.

_A/N: Sorry that this was such a short chapter, but I thought that it was better this way. Short but important. Did you all like the Quidditch match? I really enjoyed writing it and can't wait to get back to another game! Anyone got any ideas who the Slytherin seeker was, (and by the way , no it wasn't Draco as a time traveller, that's not my thing!) I'm excited as to where this story is going and can't wait to write more. I noticed the other day that I'm now over 100 feedback received, I'm amazed, didn't think anyone would really want to read my drivel, but I'm really glad someone likes it!_

_Next chapter, Harry and Ginny go into Hogsmeade to get ready for a party!_


	19. Chapter 19 Party Plans

**Chapter 19 – Party Plans**

It didn't take long after Harry had received the letter, for the daily prophet to print the details, causing a murmur of gossip and excitement to sweep the corridors of Hogwarts. As usual, dozens of pairs of eyes began to follow Harry everywhere again, people started to whisper whenever they saw him, and much to Ginny's annoyance, small groups of girls seemed to hang around the corridors waiting to see a glimpse of him. One such group even staked out the prefects bathroom, hoping that Harry would use it, not knowing that the head students' dorm was literally metres away.

Ginny had chased the group away, threatening them with detentions, fuming she had re-told the whole story to Harry, Ron and Hermione, who all laughed at her description of the fleeing girls.

Ron, on opening his own letter, had found the news rather exciting.

"Order of Merlin eh? Who would've thought?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and went back to reading the paper. She flipped back to the front page again, re-reading the main news that was causing all the fuss.

* * *

Never in the history of our world has our highest award been presented to so many people at the same time. The sacrifice made by the huge number of individuals must not go unnoticed.

_**The Ministry of Magic is proud to present the Order of Merlin First Class to:**_

_Mr Harry Potter_

_**Order of Merlin Second Class to:**_

_Mr Ronald Weasley_

_Miss Hermione Granger_

_**Order of Merlin Third Class to:**_

_Mr Arthur Weasley_

_Mrs Molly Weasley_

_Mr William Weasley_

_Mr Charles Weasley_

_Mr George Weasley_

_Mr Fredric Weasley (post)_

_Mr Remus Lupin (post)_

_Mrs Nymphadora Lupin (post)_

_Mr Dedalus Diggle_

_Mr Elphias Doge_

_Mr Aberforth Dumbledore_

_Mr Rubeus Hagrid_

_Ms Hestia Jones_

_Ms Minerva McGonagall_

_Mr Sturgis Podmore_

_Mr Severus Snape (post)_

_Ms Emmeline Vance (post)_

_Miss Ginevra Weasley_

_Mr Neville Longbottom_

_Miss Luna Lovegood_

_Mr Colin Creevey (post)_

_Mr Dennis Creevey_

_Miss Katie Bell_

_Miss Alicia Spinnet_

_Miss Angelina Johnson_

_Mr Lee Jordan_

_Mr Dean Thomas_

_Mr Seamus Finnigan_

_

* * *

_

Both her and Ron had already received their own letters, but Hermione was shocked at the extent to which the Ministry was honouring the bold and the brave. Every member of the Order of the Phoenix was being honoured as well as most of the DA. Hermione had never felt prouder.

In addition to the Order of Merlin First Class, Harry was also being awarded a Medal for Magical Merit and McGonagall was preparing another special award for services to the school. The whole of the DA were also to receive one of these awards. Harry was hoping that no-one mentioned his Witch Weekly Most Charming Smile Award.

Harry finished his breakfast and stood up holding a sheaf of parchment,

"Ron, can you post this in the Gryffindor common room for me? I've got to get the other houses to do the same!"

Ron nodded, took the parchment and went back to his porridge. Harry wandered off towards the other house tables, seeking out a suitable prefect from each house.

Hermione took the piece of parchment from Ron and read it through slowly.

"Hey, the ceremony is going to take place here at Christmas!" she said in an excited voice. Ron raised his eyebrows and grinned,

"More balls than a game of Quidditch this place, two in one year! I wonder who's invited!"

"Says here that the ceremony is open to all students of fourth year and above, unless related to one of the people getting an award." Said Hermione, scanning the document again.

"Fourth year and above? Sound familiar?" added Ginny sounding amused. "Lets just hope Ron plucks up the courage to ask you this time!" she sniggered.

Ron stared at his sister, with a look that said in no uncertain terms that he was not amused. Hermione smirked at his reaction and turned to whisper in Ginny's ear.

"If you two are going to act like that I'd better get on and do my chores!" announced Ron, standing up. He took the piece of parchment back from Hermione and set off in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Harry, returning to the table with a slightly bemused look on his face. "Isn't he happy about his award?"

Ginny grinned and touched his arm, as if letting him into a secret.

"He's got to pluck up the courage to ask Hermione to the ceremony with him!"

Harry laughed out loud, remembering the Yule Ball and how bad it had been watching the aftermath of Ron and Hermione's argument.

"So Miss Weasley, will you come to the ceremony with me?" asked Harry, feigning a look of shy embarrassment.

"Oh Harry, I…erm…I'm going with someone else!" Ginny teased, giving him a small punch on the arm. They both laughed at their joke. Hermione looked amused but didn't laugh.

All students above fourth year were allowed a special trip to Hogsmeade to allow them to find new clothes for the ceremony. Harry and Ginny walked slowly up the narrow street gazing at the packed shops. It seemed that everyone wanted to go and they were going to make damned sure that they had the best outfit money could buy. After all the ministry would be watching, and the minister for magic himself would be there.

Neither Harry nor Ginny needed to buy any new clothes as they already had quite a few outfits to choose from, but they both took the opportunity to escape the confines of the castle grounds.

Harry was glad that they didn't need to buy any new clothes, as it seemed that there were far too many students and no-where near enough stock. Harry and Ginny watched as a young Hufflepuff girl came out of Gladrags crying her eyes out because another girl had beaten her to a set of robes she had wanted.

"That's so cruel," voiced Ginny, seeing the young girl walk away, down heartened. She whispered to Harry and seeing him nod, dashed down the street after the young girl. A few words later and the young girl came running up the street to Harry, a wide smile plastered on her face. She stopped just short of him and stuttered her thanks. Ginny followed her up the street and smiled at her boyfriend. "Can I borrow Fern to fetch them though?" she asked and Harry nodded. "There you go then Celia, you can have the dress robes I wore to the Yule Ball. I was about your size then, so they should fit you! Ok?

The young girl smiled again and nodded gleefully, before skipping off down the street.

"That's why I love you! So generous!" said Harry, kissing Ginny on the cheek, "You realise that she's going to be boasting to all of her friends about that! After all you're famous now too!"

Ginny blushed and led Harry towards madam Puddifoot's tearoom.

After a pleasant lunch and copious amounts of free tea, (Madam Puddifoot seemed to be a Harry Potter Fan) the couple ventured back out into the village, joining the main street, Harry was astonished to see that the panic to find suitable clothes for the ceremony had gotten even worse.

He led Ginny through the crowd outside of Gladrags and into George's new shop, which had taken over the old Zonko's premises.

If possible the new shop was even more of an offence to the eyes than the one in Diagon Alley. George had obviously copied the colour scheme and decoration from the Diagon Alley branch but had added a few extra touches. Harry noticed that the shop name was now surrounded by a ring of smaller letters; 'Offices in London & Hogsmeade.'

As they approached they saw that the shop was just as busy as Gladrags had been. Students seemed to be filling their arms with supplies of skiving snackboxes, fake wands and nose-biting teacups. (An old Zonko's favourite.)

George spotted the couple and rushed over to greet them, a wide smile on his face.

"I can't believe it, there's even higher demand for our stuff here than there was in Diagon Alley. You wouldn't believe how many owl-order forms we get from Hogwarts, those kids are crazy!" he laughed at his own joke and swept them inside the shop. "What do you think? Pretty impressive eh? I've decided to make this the centre of our operations, it's so close to the post office, for owl-order deliveries, and close to Hogwarts for all those lovely weekend trips you all get." George rubbed his hands together gleefully, "This place is making me a fortune!"

"Peeves seems pleased with his doppelgangers!" said Ginny looking at a half empty shelf of Pocket Peeves', "He keeps stealing them from the students and getting them to follow him everywhere, it's like he's got his own private army."

"Yeah, funny thing is they keep fighting back at him!" added Harry, seeing George's amused look. "They keep locking him in cupboards and throwing things at him."

George laughed out loud, "I thought they might fight a little, but that's great! I can't wait for Filch to try and ban them!"

"He already has." Said Ginny looking as if her brother was being thick for not knowing already.

George simply replied "Splendid." And changed the subject. "So, you two been shopping for the ceremony then?" Harry and Ginny Shook their heads but George continued, "Ah, just been out for a bit of 'Together time' then eh? Me and Francine do that quite a lot you know!" George nodded towards a young witch stood behind the counter, taking money and placing it into a big old-fashioned looking till. Harry recognised her as the one who had been manning the owl-order tent the last time they had been out to Hogsmeade. Francine noticed their stares and blushed before going back to serving the long queue of customers.

"How long has that been going on?" asked Ginny, looking at her brother suspiciously.

"Only a few weeks!" he said defensively "She works a till faster than anyone I know though!"

"Well that's hardly a sound basis for a relationship is it?"

"Will you stop with the relationship talk little sis, this is my life and she's just what I need right now. Don't worry, I'm not going to run off and get married behind your backs."

Ginny calmed down a little, but eyed Francine suspiciously.

"I don't think I trust her!" said Ginny as they walked back towards the castle, "There's something just not right about the whole thing. George is so vulnerable at the moment, I just hope she's not going to take advantage."

Harry listened but said nothing. He had long since learned not to interrupt when Ginny was having a moan.

"What's Kingsley doing here?" she suddenly said, breaking into Harry's thoughts.

Kingsley waved discretely at Harry and walked slowly towards the couple.

"Harry, I've been waiting to catch you, I wondered if I could have a quiet word with you upstairs?"

Harry looked to Ginny for approval and she nodded her head,

"I'll see you later!" she said.

Harry set off with Kingsley, through the school until they reached the Heads office. McGonagall greeted Harry with a smile. Kingsley took a seat in front of the desk with Harry, while Professor McGonagall circled the room slowly.

"We wanted to speak to you about security for the ceremony." Started Professor McGonagall, before Kingsley interrupted her.

"The person who sent you that letter is unknown to us Harry, but we have strong reason to believe that they are either inside, or close-to Hogwarts."

Harry's mouth dropped open. He hadn't even told Kingsley about the letter, he assumed that Bill must have said something.

"We want to make sure that you remain safe with all the additional people coming to Hogwarts for the awards."

Harry nodded slowly.

"We're going to station a half-battalion of Aurors here for a while, leading up to and during the ceremony. Security is going to be tight getting in and out of the school because of it, so I wanted to ask for your acceptance."

Harry continued to nod slowly, mulling over the words in his head.

Professor McGonagall took up the thread,

"Potter, this may mean that people will see you as getting special treatment, and that they are having to go through all of these security checks because of you. They may resent you for it."

Harry looked at her, no-longer nodding.

"Professor, all I want is a quiet life where no-one is trying to kill me. If I have to be unpopular to get it then so-be-it!"

Kingsley smiled in approval of Harry's attitude.

"That's the stuff!" he said in his deep measured voice, "You've the makings of a really good Auror there!"

Harry didn't seem to like Kingsley's comments as he turned to glare at him,

"Just this moment, I don't care about being an Auror Minister, what is actually being done to find the sender of that letter?" he asked, starting to get a little angry.

"Harry, don't worry about it, I've got the best man on the job!" he replied, saying no more.

Harry felt deflated, someone was trying to kill him and the ministry didn't seem to be interested. True he had kept it from them so far, wanting to solve the mystery himself, but he did think that Kingsley would take more of an interest, especially as they had started by discussing his safety for the ceremony. Perhaps he was just worried about the reputation of the ministry should someone be attacked in the middle of presenting the awards.

"Who IS the best man then?" he asked a note of irritation in his voice.

Kingsley smiled and leaned back in his chair,

"Me!" he said.

Harry walked back towards his rooms, just as the bulk of the students from Hogsmeade arrived back. Lots of voices called out to him in cheery greeting and he raised a hand in response to their shouts of hello. Harry froze briefly as he saw the face of the young Slytherin seeker, a familiar sneer spreading across his pale features.

Harry thought hard. It couldn't be Malfoy! Malfoy was much older now and had no close relatives that he could think of. He looked back to the crowd, a frown furrowing his brow, but the young Slytherin had disappeared.

_A/N:Hi everyone, sorry it has been a while since I updated, I've been quite ill for a while so haven't been doing any writing. I hope that this chapter is ok, I'm still not fully recovered yet but I really wanted to get a chapter up here._

_Next chapter, we will see the awards, and some clues as to who our villain could possibly be!_

_Thanks to everyone who's posted feedback so far, your comments are great and I really enjoy reading them._


	20. Chapter 20 Stealing the Limelight

**Chapter 20 – Stealing the limelight**

"Hurry up will you, we're going to be late!" called Ron, sounding distinctly panicked. "If you take any longer mate, Hermione will kill us both."

Harry sighed and kissed Ginny again. He pulled his dress robes up and onto his shoulders, checking in the mirror that they fell properly to the floor.

"Suppose we had better go downstairs and shut old Misery guts up!" he muttered under his breath as he brushed non-existent dust from his shoulders. Ginny checked her own reflection in the mirror. "Perfect Darling, you look simply perfect!" Said the mirror in a flowery high-pitched voice. Ginny nodded looking satisfied and turned with Harry to leave the room.

"Ron, you're such a little git! You know Hermione won't get mad at us, it's only you she shouts at!" scolded Ginny as she emerged at the bottom of the stairs from their bedroom.

Ron's ears turned a shade of pink, he opened his mouth to speak but couldn't think of anything to say so closed it instead. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he turned to leave the living area, ahead of Harry and Ginny.

"Yeah, well. If she'd have let me change into my dress robes in the Gryffindor tower, like everyone else is doing, then I'd be ok wouldn't I?"

Ginny frowned at her brother, "Why wouldn't she let you change there anyway? What's wrong with that?"

Ron mumbled something about a surprise and not being allowed to see something. Harry looked in bewilderment at his friend, rolled his eyes and tucked his arm in Ginny's. She smirked at him and they walked off towards the great Hall, and the throng of people squeezing themselves through the already crowded doorway.

The Great hall had yet again been dramatically transformed. The enchanted ceiling appeared to show a dark, clear, starry night, the walls were draped in rich, royal blue hangings. Each window was surrounded by matching blue decoration, edging the frames, with small fairies casting a glittering light on to the dark panes of glass. The four house tables had been removed giving the impression of a great deal of open space, somehow the hall seemed to be much bigger and wider than usual, even with the house tables removed. The house tables had been replaced with small groups of tables dotted around the edge of the room, the centre having been left clear for people to socialise in. The floor had been polished to a brilliant shine, Ginny was nervous that she might slip on the slick looking floor, but when she put a foot on it she felt a curious feeling of stability. Obviously the floor had been treated magically to ensure no-one would slip.

"Crees's Original Non-Slip Floor Polish" Announced Hagrid from behind them, seeing Ginny's astonished face. "Filch 'as been polishin' the floor all nigh'!" he explained to them, "E's got blisters on 'is blisters ee 'as." He chuckled before walking off to talk to another new arrival.

"Where's Hermione then?" Asked Ron, craning his neck to look around the exquisitely decorated room. "She said she was going to meet us in here!"

"Ginny looked round the room herself, looking for the bushy haired girl, but saw nothing. It was Harry who spotted her, remembering how she had spent hours treating her hair before the Yule ball, he supposed that was why she had banned Ron from hanging around the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione greeted the three of them, and pointed towards a table that was tucked away at the side of the room.

"I thought we should get a table before we have to share with a Slytherin."

Everyone grinned and they sat down at the table.

Hermione whispered across the table, "Listen, I spotted someone while I was waiting for you three. Is it just me or is there a Malfoy look-alike at Hogwarts?"

Harry looked astonished, "So it's not just me then, you've seen him too? He was the seeker at our last Quidditch match, didn't you see him then?" Hermione looked a bit sheepish but said nothing.

"Yeah, I saw him then, but I thought it was just match nerves, you-know, that I was seeing things." Rod added, looking just as surprised as Harry, that someone else had seen him too.

Hermione leaned in closer to continue. "Well I don't know who he is, but I saw him coming out of the girls toilet, looking rather sick. Who-ever he is, what was he doing in the girls toilet?"

"Probably the same as us in our second year!" joked Ron, sniggering gently. Harry looked like a light bulb had just switched on inside his head.

"Polyjuice potion!" he announced out loud, making both Hermione and Ginny jump in their seats.

"You can't be serious?" said Hermione, re-gaining her composure, "Who would want to take Polyjuice potion to look like a young version of Malfoy?"

Harry could see her argument and fell silent in thought. "Hmm, I suppose you're right." He said.

"Why don't we forget him for the night and just enjoy the ceremony?" said Ginny, taking Harry's hand in hers, "I just can't wait to see that famous young wizard Harry Potter get what's coming to him. Harry snorted, but saw Ron glaring at him and Ginny, and quickly pulled his face straight again.

The Ceremony started very smartly. Everyone had sat down at a table, Luna and Neville joined Harry's table, while the table next to them seemed to fill with Weasleys. Harry waved Andromeda and Teddy over to sit with them. Teddy's face lit up when he saw Harry and Ginny, his hair changing almost immediately to Harry's raven black colour.

"Oh we're both so proud Harry dear." Andromeda said, sobbing slightly into a huge white handkerchief. "Dora and Remus both being remembered like this. So proud!"

"Proud!" Gurgled Teddy to much laugher and exclamation from round the table.

Kingsley, as minister for magic, took to the stage and welcomed everyone. He thanked them for giving up their time to come and witness these awards on what was a bitterly cold night.

The students who were invited looked especially pleased to be at the ceremony, seeing so many people receive the famous award.

Harry looked up and could see snow falling in the enchanted ceiling.

Kingsley announced the Order of Merlin third class recipients one by one, explaining their contributions and what they had done to receive such an award.

The assembled students clapped enthusiastically as family members and family friends took to the stage one by one.

Every member of the Weasley family took to the stage to receive their awards, except for Percy. He alone of the family was not to receive an award, as he had only joined the fight during the last battle. The family lined up, Mr and Mrs Weasley first, followed by Bill, Chalie then George. All of them had been fighting for a long time, either as part of the Order, or as members of the DA. Percy had stubbornly refused to believe Dumbledore's version of events and would not become involved with any of them until the very end.

George however insisted that Percy take to the stage, to receive Fred's posthumous award. Percy flushed bright scarlet as he accepted the award, stuttering that his brother was the best troublemaker a head boy could have ever asked for. Harry spotted that Percy had found out his old school badge, which seemed to still be bewitched to read 'Bighead Boy.'

Andromeda took Teddy on to the stage, to accept his mother and fathers awards. Harry hoped that when he grew up he would understand the reason he didn't have any parents, and would be proud of what they did, just as Harry was proud of the way his own parents had tried to do everything to prevent Voldemort from getting to him.

Both Ron and Hermione were called to the stage together to receive their second-class awards. Harry firmly believed that they too should be receiving the first-class like himself, but Hermione had disagreed.

"Harry, you walked to almost certain death in the forest on your own. We didn't do that, It's your bravery then that brought it all to an end, and that's why you're being awarded the first-class award."

Hermione and Ron took to the stage, hand in hand, both smiling from ear to ear. Kingsley shook Ron's hand and kissed Hermione's cheek, before presenting their awards. The whole hall erupted into rounds of applause, Harry, Ginny and the rest of the Weasley's clapping harder than anyone else.

When it came time for Harry to stand up, he found that like before, at the remembrance service, he couldn't.

This time he didn't need to say anything, but he knew that every eye was going to be on him, possibly the eyes of the person who was trying to kill him. At this thought he looked around, searching for the Malfoy look-alike.

Harry felt like he had swallowed a block of ice. His insides felt cold and numb, his limbs frozen solid. He tried to lift his frozen frame but couldn't.

He felt the familiar feeling of the small warm hand entering his, followed by her quiet voice whispering in his ear. He nodded and Ginny helped him to his feet and walked with him to the front of the great hall.

Harry gingerly took the steps one at a time, his eardrums were being buffeted by something he eventually worked out to be cheering. The whole room was on it's feet, clapping, cheering and whistling.

Kingsley's lips were moving, but Harry couldn't hear a word of what was being said, instead he took the offered hand and felt the minister wring his hand in a vice-like two-handed handshake.

The cheers and applause suddenly died down, everyone turning their heads to the back of the great hall. Trying to catch a glimpse of the commotion that had interrupted their celebrations.

"He's an impostor I tell you, a thief! He's in this room. Let go of me you great oaf."

A small group of Ministry Guard Wizards were arranged in a circle around Hagrid, who was holding in his arms the struggling figure of the intruder. Ginny gasped in shock, Harry craned his neck to see who the intruder was, and saw the familiar, older face of Draco Malfoy.

"Let…me…go!" he yelled as Hagrid, followed closely by the ministry guard wizards, manhandled him out of the great hall.

The crowd burst into chatter almost immediately. Harry took Ginny and raced back to the table to talk to Ron and Hermione.

Kingsley decided that this was the perfect opportunity to start the dance, and signalled to the band who took to the stage and after a brief period of setting up, began to play. The assembled students looked at each other, the Girls excited, the boys looking nervous. In small groups they slowly took to the dance floor and began to dance.

"What was all that about then?" Asked Ron, looking seriously at Harry.

"I don't know, but it obviously means that we're not the only ones who noticed there's a Malfoy look-alike here." Said Harry, dropping into thought. "I wonder how did Malfoy find out?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders, "Dunno mate, maybe a Slytherin told him?"

The whole of the great hall seemed to be talking about Malfoy's attempted interruption of the ceremony. Harry spotted Slughorn talking to Andromeda, and sidled across the dance floor to try and eavesdrop on the conversation.

"…not much of a potion maker that boy, I must admit I was rather disappointed in him, especially after Severus's rave reviews of the boy. Not like you Andromeda my dear, you were truly a natural potion maker." Harry crept closer to the potions master, listening to their conversation, trying his best not to be noticed, but Teddy gave him away, clapping his hands and grinning broadly at the sight of his godfather.

"Ah Harry m'boy, how are you? Terrible disruption by the Malfoy boy, terrible." Harry nodded and held his arms out for Teddy. "Woah, who's getting a big boy?" said Harry as he hoisted the toddler in his arms.

Harry spent a fruitless twenty minutes trying to persuade Slughorn to talk about other natural potion makers, but the old professor chuckled and dismissed the subject. He didn't seem to want to talk about work, instead spending most of the conversation coo'ing over Teddy.

Frustrated and tired Harry took Teddy back to the table where Ron, Hermione and Ginny were huddled together in discussion. Ron looked round and saw Harry approaching, he shuffled to one side, making room for his best friend to sit down.

"Sluggy said anything mate?" he asked, looking excited.

"No, nothing, he wouldn't talk." Replied Harry, looking disappointed. "Kept his focus on this one here!" he said turning his attention to Teddy.

"Something's not right here you know!" said Ginny looking worried "Someone is covering something up. I don't like the thought of there being two Draco Malfoy's, I don't like the way my brother is sneaking around the castle after lessons arguing with strangers and I don't like the way everyone is keeping everything quiet. This is turning into Horcruxes all over again."

"It's not that bad you know, they were really evil." Said Ron, looking scandalized.

"Oh so trying to kill Harry isn't evil enough for you?" spat Ginny, looking angry. "You'd better get your priorities sorted out."

Ginny grabbed Harry's hand and led him and Teddy away from the table, leaving Ron sat at the table, open-mouthed. Harry looked back to see Hermione open her mouth to give Ron a piece of her mind. Harry grinned and followed Ginny into the crowd. She halted at the opposite side of the dance floor and turned to face him.

"Sorry, I had to get away from him. He can be such a little git!"

Harry laughed and spoke to Teddy,

"Look at aunt Ginny, all angry at her brother, doesn't she look funny?" Teddy laughed and Ginny shot Harry a look that told him he would pay for that comment later. Harry grinned and whirled the three of them into a dance. Just for tonight he decided, who cared if Malfoy had someone deranged enough to want to look like him. Tonight was their special night, and he was going to enjoy it.

_A/N: Sorry this was another chapter that was a long time coming. I'm still quite ill and haven't properly recovered, so have been writing a lot slower than normal. I really enjoy writing this story, so I'm writing whenever I feel well enough to do so. Hope you all don't mind too much._

_I hope you liked this chapter, I have a feeling we're going to be seeing a lot more of Draco, and not just the young one, watch this space._

_Next Chapter: We find out what's going on with Bill, and maybe I might get the chance to write another Quidditch match._


	21. Chapter 21 Bill's Secret

**Chapter 21 – Bill's Secret**

Christmas flew by in a whirl of snow, celebration and Firewhiskey. Harry could hardly remember a more enjoyable time.

Harry had invited the whole Weasley family to stay with him over the holiday break at Grimmauld Place. Mrs Weasley had been nervous to begin with, but accepted once Harry had explained that the place had been thoroughly cleaned up.

After all Grimmauld place was much bigger than The Burrow and Ginny had used every possible opportunity to mention this, as if this was the key to swinging the matter.

The Weasley's had been a fun bunch of guests to have as usual. George had brought Francine with him and Percy had brought Penelope, the addition of these two extra guests had pushed the place to bursting point, but it had certainly been safer than trying the same thing at The Burrow.

Harry and Ginny said goodbye to the last guest and closed the front door. Harry sighed and slumped his back up against the door.

"I'm shattered. I didn't think that Christmas was supposed to be that much work."

"Yeah, Mum does make it look quite easy doesn't she?" replied Ginny grinning, "At least we had Kreacher though, didn't he do well? I think he was in heaven, all those hungry mouths to feed."

"Hermione didn't look too happy though did she? Thought she was going to bring out her box of S.P.E.W. badges at one point!"

Ginny smirked and nodded before wandering off towards the kitchen. "Do you think Kreacher liked his Christmas present?"

Harry nodded and followed her to the kitchen. They had got Kreacher a new bed to sleep in, instead of his pile of rags and blankets. They had bought him a miniature mattress with sheets and a duvet. Kreacher's eyes had welled up with tears and he had taken it off towards his cupboard. Harry had then magically enlarged the cupboard to give him a miniature bedroom.

When they entered the kitchen, Kreacher was busying himself with the washing up. He saw the two of them enter and immediately rushed over to them.

"Master Harry Sir, what can Kreacher do for you?"

Harry waved Kreacher down and smiled at him. "It's ok Kreacher think we're just going to have a sit down and relax."

Kreacher bowed and ran off across the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with two glasses of mulled wine for Harry and Ginny. Ginny thanked the little elf and he returned to his washing up, humming happily as he went.

"When do we have to go back to school?" asked Ginny, looking unhappy to be leaving this comfortable home that they had made. "It seems like we're only going to get five minutes alone without my family here."

"We've got to go back on Monday, so we've got tomorrow and that's all."

Ginny pulled a face to show her displeasure at having to leave so soon, but Harry changed the subject quickly.

"Was it me or did Bill look even worse than usual? You don't think he's still in trouble do you?" he asked.

Ginny thought it through for a moment or two before answering. "Maybe him and Fleur are having problems at home, being a teacher can be a bit demanding I suppose." Harry shrugged his shoulders, and gave up, taking another sip of his mulled wine.

"Why don't we take these upstairs and make the most of the rest of the holiday?" he asked with a grin. Ginny's eyes opened wide in mock surprise, but disapparated quickly, re-appearing upstairs a split second before Harry.

* * *

Hogwarts' corridors were alive with gossip still about the events at the Order of Merlin Award ceremony. All of the students who hadn't been able to go to the ceremony had been hearing stories over the Christmas break, stories ranging from one wizard breaking in and stealing the stage, to more wild and outlandish ones of a gang of ruthless dark wizards, breaking into the school and holding guests at wandpoint.

Harry was again besieged with questions and speculation. He had sent an owl to Kingsley, trying to find out if he had made any progress in his investigations over Christmas, but so far had heard nothing in reply.

He had taken to his favourite hobby of suspecting or blaming others. Hermione was spending hours in the library, with Ron in tow, looking for names of potion makers. Harry had been hanging around after potions lessons, trying to find an opportunity to either speak to Professor Slughorn, or else sneak into his study to have a poke around. He managed neither. Frustrated, tired and aching, he wandered into his bathroom and groaned. Ginny had run him a steaming hot bath, with scented bubbles towering up towards the ceiling. He stripped off his robes and gently lowered himself into the huge round bathtub, groaning again as the hot water hit his tired muscles.

Harry was aware of something or someone stroking his head, but was enjoying the sensation far too much to open his eyes and risk surprising the person that was doing it. He had fallen asleep in the bath, but the water had not gone cold. Magic was definitely handy for something he thought.

"Wakey wakey sleepyhead." Whispered Ginny's voice in his ear.

Harry stirred from his lumber and opened his eyes slowly.

Ginny was crouched next to the bath dressed in her Quidditch robes. Harry looked at her quizzically.

"Wha? Quidditch?" he mumbled, trying to get his brain to work.

"Last-minute Quidditch practice before the match this weekend!" Said Ginny sounding excited, "That Captain is a wonderful girl, you know keeping the team on peak form like this!"

Harry groaned at her poor joke and groped around the floor looking for his towel.

Dressing quickly, Harry grabbed his broom and stomped down the stairs heading towards the Quidditch Pitch. Ginny had already gone ahead excited about their last training session before meeting Hufflepuff on the pitch.

Harry trudged along the corridor, normally Quidditch practice was something he looked forward to, and indeed the last three sessions he had thoroughly enjoyed. Just today he felt so very tired, classes, prefect duties, head boy duties and tailing Slughorn had taken everything out of him. An energetic session of Quidditch practice was the last thing he needed.

As he walked further towards the staircase that would take him to the ground floor, he heard the now familiar sound of raised voices, arguing. It didn't take him long to recognise the one as Bill's voice. The other sounded strange, more rasping, guttural. A Goblin!

Harry slowed his pace and headed towards the voices,

"I don't care what you _THINK_ you do for a living, you still owe us boy, and we're not about to forget that debt. Houses and weddings and wives don't come cheap you know and you are foolish to ignore our warnings. You may just find that if you continue to ignore our warnings that Houses and wives can be taken away just as easily as gold."

"Are you threatening me?" shouted Bill, there was a note of panic in his voice that Harry had never heard before.

"Gringotts, Mr Weasley, wants what Gringotts is owed, nothing more, nothing less. Good day!"

Harry heard the goblin scuttle away down the corridor, but knew that Bill had not moved from the spot. He walked carefully towards the spot he had heard them talking and found Bill leaning against the wall looking more than worried.

"What do you owe Gringotts Bill?" asked Harry in a voice he was not sure was completely his own, he sounded more like someone's father.

"What? I…erm…what did you hear?" stammered Bill, his embarrassment clear.

Harry said nothing but just looked at Bill who seemed to shrink into a twelve year old boy.

"Gringotts wants to take back the money they gave me as bonuses when I worked for them. Every curse broken carried a significant bonus, so long as the treasure it was protecting was worth something to them. If the item was Goblin-made the bonus would go up. They seem mad on re-gaining any item that's goblin-made. They say that because I ended my contract with them early, that I forfeit all bonuses every knut of payment they've awarded for breaking a curse. When a goblin says all bonuses, they mean ALL bonuses…EVER."

Harry looked shocked.

"How am I supposed to pay all that back, I mean their bonuses are generous. I got the house, I paid for the wedding and everything, all from Gringotts curse bonuses. Now they want it back? I can't possibly pay it. What are they going to do to Fleur? And now she's having a baby as well!"

Bill was starting to get hysterical so Harry led him carefully back to his dorm.

"Kreacher?" he called softly and with a crack, the little house elf appeared in the centre of the room.

"Master called Kreacher?" he said as he bowed low to Harry.

"Yes Kreacher, I was wondering if you could get Professor Weasley a cup of hot chocolate for me please?"

Kreacher smiled and nodded eagerly, disappearing again with another crack, only to reappear a few seconds later with two huge mugs of hot chocolate and an array of biscuits.

Harry sat down in a chair that faced Bill and watched as he drank his hot chocolate. Slowly he regained some of the colour in his scarred face. Harry said nothing, but walked towards the fireplace, picking up a small ceramic pot.

Harry took a pinch of Floo powder and dropped it into the fire. "The Burrow" he said as he knelt on the hearth and pushed his head into the flames.

Mrs Weasley was in the kitchen preparing dinner as Harry called her name.

"Molly, I've got Bill here with me, He's in a bit of a state, I think he's got some problems with Goblins." He said a quickly as possible, so that Bill didn't cotton on to what was happening.

"Ok Harry, step back, I'm on my way over." Said Mrs Weasley, putting down the potato she had been holding.

Harry stood up as the fire flared and Mrs Weasley emerged from the fire into the room, brushing ash from her shoulders. Bill finally looked round, to see his mother standing by the fire looking thoroughly concerned. She rushed over to her eldest son and pulled him into a tight embrace. Harry fought back a grin, as Bills face looked like he was in pain from being crushed.

Mrs Weasley sat down with her son and they began to talk about his problem.

Not five minutes later the door bust open, slamming viciously on the wall, Ginny stormed in with fire in her eyes, looking directly at Harry.

"Harry Potter! Where in the hell have you been, We've all been waiting for you for over an hour already. What kind of team player do you think you are?" He voice bombarded Harry with accusations and abuse. Harry slowly backed away from her temper, towards the other side of the room. Ginny suddenly noticed the presence of her brother and mother, both sat on the sofa. She instantly fell silent. Harry took his chance and grabbed her by the arm and dragged her up the stairs.

He explained what had happened on his way to practice, and everything that he had overheard. Ginny looked horrified that goblins could treat people like that.

"I suppose it's little wonder that relations between wizards and goblins have been so bad over the years." Said Harry, now having a real comparison after all the dreary history of magic lessons.

"Well at least we know one thing!" said Ginny looking optimistic, "We know that Bills moods lately have had nothing to do with that letter you had, so Bill can be written out completely!"

"Yeah but who DID send the letter then?" asked Bill, making to two of them jump. "Sorry, didn't mean to walk in on you like that, Just wanted to say I'm sorry for being a bit funny lately. I'm going to get this sorted. Thanks Harry, you've been great."

Bill shook Harry's hand and turned to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" shouted Harry, a sudden thought having sprung to him, "Why don't you take Fleur and live in Grimmauld place until you've sorted all of this out. The place is still protected by what's left of Dumbledore's Fidelus charm, so it should be safe enough from the Goblins for now, and besides, how would they know you were living there?"

Bill thought about it for a minute before smiling, "Yes ok, I really appreciate that. Thanks Harry." with that he turned for the door and strode out of the room. His black robes billowing behind him, reminding Harry of how much he looked like Snape when he did that.

"Right, Quidditch practice!" said Ginny, dragging Harry towards the door too, "Lets make sure those Hufflepuffs rue the day they ever met a Gryffindor Seeker."

Harry chuckled to himself and followed Ginny out of the room. Suddenly he was in the mood for training, and he was going to train very VERY hard.

A/N: So Bills secret wasn't to do with the letter…this means that someone else has got it in for Harry, although did anyone really believe that it was Bill?

_I'm hoping to put another update on just before the new year, so watch this space!_

_Next Chapter: Quidditch! Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff, a match with an interesting outcome!_

_Thanks for all of you who have left me feedback. I'm really encouraged by your comments and can't wait to read more. Thanks guys, you're the best and thanks to those of you who sent get-well wishes, I'm feeling a lot better now!_


	22. Chapter 22 An Interesting Outcome

**Chapter 22 – An Interesting Outcome**

The Gryffindor team had never felt so confident. Ginny had been working them all hard and the training seemed to have paid off. Harry looked around the changing room and saw the faces of his team mates, grinning, and laughing with each other. Confident that the game would be over quickly and that victory was surely going to be theirs.

The weather on the other hand didn't seem quite so good. Harry had woken up to the sound of rain lashing the windows of the bedroom. Looking out of the window the skies were dark grey and gloomy looking. The clouds were briefly lit by the odd bolt of lightning here and there and the rumbling sound of thunder echoing off the surrounding hills.

Ginny had groaned in her half-waking moments, hearing the pounding of water against the window panes. She didn't take long to brighten up tough, still confident that in-spite of the weather they were going to outplay the opposition well and truly.

"Ready everyone?" Ginny's voice interrupted Harry's thoughts, snapping him back to the present. He gripped his broom handle and jumped to his feet, eager to be on the pitch again, and eager to catch the snitch.

* * *

The team filed out of the changing rooms and out onto the pitch to thunderous applause. It seemed that most of the school had braved the foul weather to come and watch the match. Harry saw Ginny's mouth move and he assumed she was shouting some last words of encouragement, but her words were lost to the wind that whistled around his face, biting at his nose and ears and taking all of the feeling from his skin.

Ginny mounted her broom, blew him a kiss and kicked off from the ground to meet madam Hooch at the centre of the pitch.

Harry mounted his own broom and shot up into the air, quickly warming up by swooping around the pitch a couple of times, before taking his start position above the rest of the assembled team.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the team shot off, taking possession of the Quaffle and hurtling towards the three goal hoops at the opposite end of the pitch.

Harry set off in search of the snitch, gracefully gliding along the length of the pitch, scanning the pitch below him for a glint of gold.

Harry was shocked to spot the small winged ball hovering directly below him. He flipped his broom over and turned downwards, reaching for the snitch.

WHAM!

Harry was hit hard in the stomach, the heavy bludger driving the wind from him, nearly knocking him from his broom. Harry clung on and sank slowly to the ground where he fell onto the grass and promptly threw up.

Ginny landed next to him, he quickly waved her away, motioning for her to get back to the game. He tried to speak to her, to tell her not to worry about him, but he still could not get the words out. Ginny looked into his eyes and saw his urgency. She hopped back onto her broom and took off after the quaffle. One swift bludger blow later and Ginny was back in possession and was hurtling back towards the opposite goal hoops before hurling the red ball straight through the Hufflepuff Keepers' outstretched arms and through the centre hoop. The Gryffindor supporters cheered loudly and Harry smiled as he began to regain his breath. The staggered to his feet and slowly climbed back onto his broom. He shook his head to try and clear his vision and took off again in search of the snitch.

The rain was starting to increase in its ferocity, water streaking the sky an even darker grey. Harry watched as the sodden players flew up and down the pitch wondering how they could see the balls, let alone catch them.

Harry began to think that the snitch was going to be impossible to find, when he spotted it again. The tiny golden ball was hovering above him. Harry turned his broom to face the snitch, only for it to shoot off in the opposite direction. Harry swerved violently and took off after it. It seemed that Hufflepuffs seeker had seen Harry's sharp movements and closed in to follow him.

Harry was frantically trying to keep sight of the snitch, but it wasn't easy. The rain was slapping him in the face, large wet drops of water splashed off his cheeks, and ran up his nose and into his eyes, choking and blinding him. He felt the rush of air as another bludger narrowly missed his face, but he paid it no attention.

The crowd gasped in horror as Harry flew his broom dangerously close to the commentator's stand, before changing direction at the last minute. Visibility was getting worse.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle for a time-out and everyone glided down to their team captain on the ground.

"I can't see what's going on, Ron have you let any goals in?" Asked Ginny trying to work out their position. Ron shook his head and Ginny continued. "I can't see the scoreboard, and I can't hear the commentator! Well I've scored five, have either of you two scored anything?" Ginny looked hopefully at her other two chasers. Demelza claimed three and Fiona five too. Ginny looked impressed. "We need to keep a grip on this game, try to keep in sight of each other." She turned to her Beaters, "You two need to keep a tight reign on those bludgers, one nearly killed Harry!" Coote looked embarrassed, but Ginny turned to face Harry, "Harry we really need you to catch the snitch, we've been playing for three hours so far and we just can't go on like this for much longer. We're relying on you!"

Harry was shocked at how much time had passed. He didn't think they had spent so long on the pitch, and the score was pitifully low for such a long game. One hundred and thirty points, they could still lose the match if Hufflepuff caught the snitch.

The game was re-started and Harry set about fining the golden ball that had so far eluded him. Hufflepuffs seeker, (a slim looking dark-haired fourth year girl) tailed his every move, obviously trying to end the game herself, to secure a Hufflepuff win. Harry put on some speed and easily outstripped his opponent, who was flying a nimbus two thousand.

Harry ducked as another bludger came screaming past him, Peakes shouted a hasty apology as he chased after it with his bat raised, before hitting it back in the opposite direction, aimed directly at the Hufflepuff captain, who had been heading towards Ron's left hand goal hoop. The bludger hit home with a sickening thud, and the Hufflepuff captain curled up and fell to the ground, cushioned just in time by a spell from Madam Hooch's wand.

The Gryffindor supporters cheered at the removal of one opponent, at least for a few minutes, until he had finished vomiting onto the grass. Ron circled his goal hoops excitedly, watching the two other chasers heading towards him. Coote forced one to swerve violently to avoid a bludger, and Fiona snatched the quaffle from the other, before throwing to Ginny and sprinting off down the pitch. Ginny threw the quaffle to Demelza who passed on to Fiona who neatly pushed the ball through the Hufflepuff Right hand hoop.

Harry caught a brief glimpse of the scoreboard as he flew past. 150 – 0 Harry frantically looked for the snitch. If Hufflepuff caught it now they would be level on points.

Harry spotted the snitch again, a few metres in front of him, speeding towards the ground. Harry pulled his broom into a vertical nose-dive and chased the snitch to reach the ground first. Harry stretched out his hand to grab the tiny golden ball, His fingers closed around the fluttering wings and Harry passed out.

* * *

Harry's Quidditch history had been an eventful one, more than once ending up in the hospital wing. Harry opened his eyes to see the familiar sight of the hospital wing ceiling. He looked down towards the end of the bed and found a soaking wet, but grinning Quidditch team looking back at him. Ginny was sat on a chair by the side of his bed.

"The snitch was struck by lightning, just as you touched the ground." She explained. Harry's face furrowed into a frown, which made his head hurt. Ginny continued to explain, "The lightning had a weird reaction to the magic in the snitch, it seemed to just knock you out, but the snitch disintegrated. Madam Hooch had to stop the match. She says she can't award us the points unless we can prove that you caught the snitch before the lightning struck." The rest of the team giggled and laughed at the tone of her voice. Harry winced in pain and looked down at his hand.

"Do you think this will do as proof?" he said slowly raising his right hand. Burned into his right hand there was a perfect outline of a snitch, wings outstretched, running across his palm.

Ginny gasped and took his hand looking horrified. "Does it hurt?" she asked, her face full of concern. Harry nodded his head, and she stroked his head in sympathy.

Ginny sent Fiona to go and find Madam Hooch. Harry teased her for wanting the points so badly, and the rest of the team laughed at her as she tried, unsuccessfully to stop herself from flushing red in embarrassment.

Fiona returned a few minutes later with the Quidditch referee in tow. Harry showed her his hand and explained to her as much as he could remember.

"Well Harry, I think that's going to go down in Hogwarts History as one of the most interesting catches." She announced smiling and turning to Ginny. "Yes Miss Weasley, you can have the points!" The team cheered and Harry laughed at them.

"Don't worry about me then will you, I'm just lying here half dead!" Ron laughed at him and took his hand to shake it in congratulations, before letting go and leaping backwards as Harry screamed out in pain.

Demelza hit Ron hard on the arm for being so stupid.

Madam Pomfrey decided that this was enough, and rushed over to Harry's bedside, "That's quite enough, you've all been here for long enough, It's time to go!" Ginny complained and begged to stay with her boyfriend, but Madam Pomfrey refused, "You can see him in the morning dear, for now I think he needs some sleep." She ushered them all out of the room and pulled a white screen around part of Harry's bed, creating the illusion of some privacy while he slept.

* * *

Slowly night fell and the school fell silent. Harry lay in bed, unable to sleep, instead replaying the Quidditch match over and over in his head. The hospital wing door creaked open and Harry sat up in bed and reached for his glasses.

A small pair of hands stopped is from picking them up, and the owner climbed on top of his bed. Ginny leaned forwards and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"This is to make you feel better!" she whispered before taking off her dressing gown. Harry saw that she was naked beneath it and he gasped in delight. Ginny put a finger on his lips as she pulled the sheets back and positioned herself ready for him. Her practiced hands felt for Harry and stroked him until he was ready for her. Ginny straddled him and wriggled down until Harry was firmly inside of her. Still with her finger on his lips she began to grind her groin into his, Harry closed his eyes and groaned quietly in disbelief of what was happening. This was much better than the last time he had been injured. Ginny, started to whimper and moan herself, as she slid up and down on top of him, her orgasm racing to explode inside of her. Harry felt the familiar sensation as his own took over and they collapsed together, Harry's pain long forgotten.

Ginny kissed Harry tenderly on the cheek and then cuddled up to him, taking care not to fall asleep in his arms.

After an hour or so Ginny put her dressing gown back on and stood up to leave.

"Be careful, don't want you to get caught!" Harry whispered to her. Ginny just grinned and held up and old piece of parchment. Harry chuckled his approval, Ginny took the marauders map and slid out of the door. Harry lay back and promptly fell asleep.

_A/N: Happy new year everyone. Sorry for the delay in updating, I wanted to get a chapter up before the new year, but I just didn't have time to write one. I know this is a short chapter, but I wanted to write some Quidditch! I thought it would make a nice relief in the middle of the story to have an exciting match. Hope you liked my ideas, and could follow what was going on! Sorry if there are any mistakes in the writing, I wanted to get the chapter posted and only had a quick scan through to proof it!_

_The last little bit I wanted to put in to prove that Ginny and Harry are still just as crazy about each other and there's nothing like a bit of love to make you feel better when you're not well._

_Next chapter, I'm hoping to get to the bottom of the whole Draco thing! Time is ticking on and term time is limited. Watch this space._


	23. Chapter 23 Potions and Promises

**Chapter 23 – Potions and Promises**

After such a spectacular finish to the match, Harry was being hounded everywhere he went, being asked constantly to tell his story, what happened, how did it feel? Harry was starting to get tired of telling the story. Ron on the other hand, was loving the attention. The whole Gryffindor team was yet again in the limelight and if the famous Harry Potter wouldn't tell the story, then Ron certainly would.

"Has he really got the outline of the snitch burned into his hand?" asked one first year girl in a voice that was barely a whisper.

Ron nodded his head vigorously, "Yeah, he was in the hospital wing for ages weren't you?" he said, looking at Harry for support. "A catch like that, you know, it's going to take it out of you, you know! Now give the man some space will you, he's tired!" Ron grinned at the girl and ushered her out of their path.

Harry smirked. He was tired alright, but not for reasons Ron would approve of. He had been released from the hospital wing just that morning, and had gone straight into lessons. With missing a couple of days to recover, Harry found he had a startling amount of work to catch up on, and was struggling to keep up.

Ron wasn't helping much either, he was just as bad as some of the first years at times. Harry had turned to Hermione for help, but she had just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Thanks a lot," he had thought to himself. At least Hermione had agreed to lend him her notes so that he could catch up on what he had missed. Harry took them gratefully and was walking back to his dorm, when Ron had caught up with him.

"Listen mate, how do you fancy a party tonight. Some of us are getting together for a few drinks and a laugh in the prefects bathroom. You know make use of that new diving board Hermione conjured up for us last week. Make it a sort of indoor beach party. What do you think?"

Harry said nothing, he had so much to catch up on, and not just on class work. He was so tired.

"I'll think about it ok?" he muttered. Ron didn't look too pleased with the answer.

"You know you're turning into a real spoil sport. You never used to pass up an opportunity for a laugh!"

"Ok, ok, I'll come. Just as long as I actually get chance to do some work. If I don't catch up in potions, I might actually fail you know!"

Ron didn't look too bothered by that statement,

"Come on, old Sluggy isn't going to fail you is he? You're one of his favourites!"

"In case you hadn't noticed before Ronald, the major exams are judged by the ministry examining board! Don't you remember your OWLS?" Ginny announced, appearing from round the corner in front of them.

"Where did you come from?" he said in an indignant voice.

"None of your business, anyway, Shouldn't you be meeting Hermione, she's in the Library waiting for you!"

Ron's face dropped and without a word he turned heel and ran off down the corridor.

"What was all that about?" Harry asked looking amused.

Ginny took his arm and led him back to their dorm.

Harry spent the dying hours of the afternoon trying to catch up on his work. Frustrated and bored, he picked up a towel and his swimming trunks and marched down the stairs to the living area.

"I've had enough for one night!" he announced, "I'm just going to pop in on Ron's beach party. You want to come?" Ginny shook her head and went back to sewing up a hole in her quidditch robes. Harry leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, before leaving the room.

* * *

Harry didn't intend on staying too long in the prefect's bathroom, just long enough to stop Ron from moaning. As he emerged from the entrance to the dorm however, he froze still. There was a figure standing with his back to him, running his hands along the wall muttering to himself. Harry slid sideways into a shadow in the dark hallway and listened.

"…must be round here somewhere. That infuriating girl said it was next to the prefects bathroom. Where is it?…" Harry peered out of the gloom to get a good look at the figure. Harry saw the slight frame move and caught a glimpse of white-blonde hair, and the sneering, face of a young Draco Malfoy. Harry had to hold in his gasp. He watched as the figure continued to search the wall. Harry supposed that he was looking for the entrance to Harry's dorm. Harry stood in the shadows watching for at least another tem minutes, before something strange happened.

The boy's hair began to change from its white-blonde colour to a darker, dirtier colour. The boy also seemed to be slowly growing a little bit taller. Realising this, the boy, suddenly stopped his inspection of the wall in front of him, and ran away towards the stairs. Harry threw caution to the wind and stepped out of the shadows and took off in pursuit.

"Hey, you, stop!" he shouted at the retreating figure. The boy turned his wand and shot a bolt of red light at Harry, who easily deflected it with his own wand and shouted again. "Stop!" Harry shot an impediment jinx at the boy, but missed by inches as he ducked under a tapestry. Harry swore at his own stupidity. He knew the castle passageways perhaps better than anyone else in the school. He knew that that particular secret passage didn't lead to the same place twice. He had lost him. Harry ran back to his dorm to retrieve the marauders map. Ginny was confused at all the fluster but Harry quickly explained, and Ginny too began to scour the map for any sign of the passageway's exit.

Harry knew that it was hopeless, even though the passageway was plotted on the map, he had no idea who it was that had looked like Malfoy. Harry had explained what he had seen to Ginny, and they had both agreed that whoever it was, they had to be using polyjuice potion. Harry knew that the map only showed your true identity. It was hopeless.

Ginny stroked Harry's hand as he collapsed into an armchair, defeated.

Neither of them said anything. Ginny jumped suddenly as there was a hammering at the door, she opened the door to find Ron and Hermione stood waiting. Ron looked furious.

"Some mate you turned out to be, everyone was waiting for you, and you didn't show. Made me look like a right prat!"

"No changes there!" Muttered Ginny under her breath, earning herself a scowl from her brother.

Ginny continued to explain what had happened. Hermione seemed to be expecting something like that and launched into explaining a plan.

"Well we know that three of us in this room have at least made the potion, and you two," she pointed at Ron and Harry, "Successfully transformed." Everyone nodded slowly listening carefully to her explanation.

"Well we know what ingredients are needed, and we know how long it takes to make. We also know that in our sixth year Malfoy stole some from Slughorn, so we know he's got the ingredients in the school. I think that it's a pretty safe bet that either the potion or at least the ingredients have been stolen from Slughorn."

"Yeah, he's not exactly the most reliable of people in the world is he? I mean ok he's nice enough and all that, but he's not too careful with information is he?" Ron looked smug with himself as if he had solved the mystery in one statement. Hermione just rolled her eyes at him and continued.

"Ron, WE broke into Snape's private stores, remember? I'm sure if we could break in then somebody else could do the same just as easy!"

"So where does that leave us then?" asked Ginny, not fully understanding what Hermione was trying to say.

"It leaves us looking for the location of course!"

Harry suddenly understood. "We needed somewhere quiet where we wouldn't be disturbed, somewhere no-one will find the potion brewing for a whole month." He took a deep breath and looked at Hermione, "Moaning Myrtles Bathroom?" Hermione smiled and nodded. Harry picked up his wand and stood up. The others following suit, they marched out into the corridor and headed off towards the deserted bathroom. "Just one thing," Harry asked turning to Hermione as they walked towards the stairs, "How come they couldn't see the door to the dorm?"

Hermione smiled slightly smugly, "You still haven't read 'Hogwarts, A History' yet have you?" she laughed, "The door is protected by a secrecy charm, only the Head teacher, Head boy and Head girl can see the door unless they specifically tell someone else."

"And you told us!" added Ron, trying to sound like he had known this all along.

"It's kind of a mini fidellus charm." Hermione finished, giving Ron a look of amusement.

It didn't take them long to reach the abandoned Girls toilet. Harry could remember the last time they had been in there, everything had looked so much bigger, but they had been so much younger he thought in hindsight.

The four of them started to look around the filthy room, it wasn't long before Ginny's voice rang out,

"Over here!" Harry, Ron and Hermione rushed over to find Ginny looking through the doorway of one of the cubicles. Just like they had done six years previously, a cauldron had been set up inside, and a thick gloopy potion was bubbling lazily over a small blue-flamed fire.

"That's Polyjuice alright!" announced Ron to nobody in particular. Harry quickly started to look around the room before he called out,

"Myrtle?"

The room stayed silent for a few moments before a small voice emerged from one of the other cubicles.

"Hi Harry!"

"Myrtle, is that you?"

"Oh Harry, have you come back to keep me company?" Myrtle drifted through the cubicle door, emerging into the bathroom. She spotted the others and stopped, her face fell. "Oh, you've got your friends with you! Pity, I was looking forward to seeing you on your own again!"

Harry's ears turned slightly pink as he remembered their encounter in the prefects bathroom in his fourth year.

"Yeah, erm Myrtle, I was wondering if you could tell me who's been in here recently?"

"You know no-one EVER comes in here! They don't want to spend time with ME!" she said, an alarming note of anger in her voice. "Not even YOU Harry, you just come in here when you want something, and then you're gone!"

Harry tried to apologise but Myrtle carried on,

"Why should I help you? You don't even like me, and your friend there keeps sniggering at me!"

Harry turned round to see Ron trying to hide a laugh behind his hand, he shot him a furious look and turned back to Myrtle.

"What do you want us to do Myrtle, this is a girls bathroom, we're not really supposed to be in here, but this is an emergency, we REALLY need to know who's been in here, who has been making this potion?"

Myrtles face changed and she grinned.

"If you can get people to start using this bathroom again, then maybe I might tell you."

Harry looked exasperated, that would take ages, they didn't have that much time! The turned to Myrtle and tried to reason with her.

"No, if you want me to help then that's what I want you to do! If you promise to help me, then I'll promise to help you!"

Harry sighed and nodded, Myrtle squealed in delight and turned away before drifting off through the wall.

"Great, so now we've got to make friends for Myrtle then?" said Ron sounding disappointed.

"Not necessarily Ron, " Started Hermione, "we're prefects remember, we can just tell everyone to start using this one instead of the others, you know, say that the others are out of order or something!"

"We'll need to give this place a good clean though!" said Ginny looking at the filthy state of the walls. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at a particularly dirty looking sink. "Scourgify!" The years of accumulated grime lifted from, the surface of the sink bowl, revealing a gleaming white surface, with bright silver ornate taps, one with an inscription of a snake. Ginny screamed and dropped her wand, staggering backwards.

Harry whipped round on the spot to see Ginny cowering away fro the sink. He rushed to her side to try and calm her down.

"What's wrong Gin?" he asked her, looking at her pale white face. She raised a shaking hand and pointed at the sink she had just cleaned. Ron was inspecting it up-close.

"Harry, it's that sink, you know, the one that opens into the chamber of secrets!"

Harry understood at once. Ginny had very nearly died the last time she had seen that sink.

"Alright, that will do for tonight!" he told her in a soothing voice, "erm…can you two keep going, we need to get this place cleaned up soon!" Ron and Hermione nodded.

"I'll get a notice made up for the common rooms!" said Hermione, "If you can give them to each of the houses, Myrtle will have her wish by tomorrow morning."

Harry's spirits were lifted by the thought. By the afternoon, he would know who had been making the polyjuice potion. He was sure that they would be the ones behind the letter he had received. His thoughts raced around inside his head, soon, very soon he thought.

_A/N: Hi guys, sorry it's taken a while for me to post another chapter, but it's been really really hectic start to the new year. Work has been very busy, leaving me absolutely exhausted when I get home, so I've had absolutely no chance to write anything. Don't worry though, I'm hoping that I will follow this with another chapter very very soon. In the next chapter the bulk of my story will unfold and all these mysteries I've been weaving will start to unfold._

_At my estimation there's only a couple of months left at Hogwarts before (sniff, sniff) our heroes will actually leave school for good! Don't worry though I'm going to keep writing, and the last months at school are going to be very interesting indeed!_


	24. Chapter 24 Discoveries and Deviousness

**Chapter 24 – Discoveries and Deviousness**

Harry couldn't sleep.

He tossed and turned in the bed, earning himself frequent jabs in the side from Ginny. He tried closing his eyes, counting sheep, he even tried reading one of his History of Magic textbooks, they usually did the trick, but no matter what he tried he just couldn't get to sleep.

Finally after what seemed like hours of torture, he decided to cut his losses and get up.

As gently as possible Harry crept out of the bed and pulled on a pair of jeans. He looked briefly in the mirror before deciding the face that looked back at him was not a pleasant sight. He had bags under his red, puffy eyes and worry lines on his face. Five days had passed since Myrtle had asked them to make friends for her, and he had seen nothing of the ghost since. Yesterday he had even braved the now-busy toilets, in an attempt to find out where she was. The toilet had been all but deserted, except for the new Muggle Studies teacher, who had screamed at him to get out, then proceeded to lecture him on his responsibilities as head boy. Harry felt wholly embarrassed by her suggestion that if he wanted to use the girls toilets so badly then he should apply to be transfigured into a girl first.

Harry sat himself down in the living room, and unfolded his marauders map.

"I solemnly swear, I'm up to no good!" he muttered, sounding utterly fed up.

Harry started to scan the map, for a dot with Myrtles name on it. He started with the girls bathroom and checked each corridor systematically across the rest of the school. No-one seemed to be around, there was Mrs Norris circling around a statue on the ground floor, Peeves zooming around a classroom on the second floor and…

"Ron!" Harry greeted his best friend at the door to the dormitory. "How come you're out of bed so early?"

"Well that's nice" he grinned as he sat down on the sofa, putting his feet up on a small dark coffee table. "Can't I come and visit my best mate if I want?"

"Erm, it is five in the morning Ron." Said Harry, checking a clock on the wall.

"Listen, mate," began Ron, suddenly turning serious, "Sir Nick woke me up this morning, bloody horrible it was, he wanted to know if I'd seen Myrtle."

Harry looked at his friend darkly, but said nothing.

"Nick says she's not been seen in days, recons me and Hermione were the last ones to see her, y'know, the other day in the bathroom."

Harry nodded his head, no-one was supposed to know that the four of them had been in the girls bathroom, but Nick had caught Ron and Hermione leaving, considerably later than Harry and Ginny.

"So what does that mean?" said Harry, more to himself than anyone else.

"Well could someone have upset her again? You know what she's like. She'll cry if you look at her funny."

"You're probably right! Just keep an eye out for her, she'll probably turn up sooner or later." Harry's voice betrayed his feelings of disappointment. He had really hoped that Myrtle would just tell them the answer to the whole mystery. But as usual, it just wasn't going to be that easy. Harry sighed and collapsed onto the sofa. "Kreacher." He said, in a slightly raised voice. There was a loud crack and the small house elf appeared by the fireplace, looking wholly awake, and like he had been working for hours already. "Any chance of some breakfast up here this morning Kreacher?" asked Harry looking hopeful, Kreacher grinned and bowed;

"Of course Master Harry. Kreacher will return presently with breakfast."

There was another loud crack and Kreacher disappeared, heading back to the kitchens.

Ron seemed to have a brainwave, as he suddenly sat bolt upright on the sofa and turned to stare at Harry.

"What is it now?" asked Harry in a more than weary voice.

"House elves!" said Ron, in a voice that implied that Harry should have known all along.

"Yes Ron, House elves, there's hundreds of them here, nothing new you know!"

"Yeah yeah, I know, but just think. All of those elves could be out looking for Myrtle for us, you know, like a search party. They would do anything for your Harry, especially if you can talk Kreacher into backing you up."

Harry looked doubtful, but decided that he was too tired to bother disagreeing with Ron.

Kreacher re-appeared with a large tray, laden down with bowls of porridge, orange juice and a toast rack. Ron looked towards Harry for his approval and Harry just nodded.

Ron explained his plan to the small elf, who said nothing until he had finished. He simply looked to Harry for a nod and bowed low before disapperating.

Harry and Ron ate an early breakfast and waited for news.

* * *

The majority of the Seventh year were having a rough time of it, the school year was rapidly drawing to a close and bringing with it the threat of the NEWT exams. The usual parade of learning potions, memory charms and curses quills started to appear around the school and Hermione, as usual, was taking great pleasure in confiscating every item she could find.

"Honestly, it's not like any of them work!" she sighed, sitting herself down next to Ginny in the library.

Ginny hummed her agreement without looking up from her book.

"All these cheats, some of them look like they're downright dangerous," continued Hermione.

Ginny had long since learned to ignore Hermione when she started like this. They had all heard it before, every time there was an exam, she would take it upon herself to personally police the school for any contraband items. Ginny looked closely at the line she had been reading, she screwed up her nose and slammed the book closed, satisfied that the sentence she had just read five times over was totally and utterly wrong.

Muttering to herself she hoisted the dusty volume off the table and dumped it on top of a pile of equally dusty books by the side of the nearest shelf.

"That's the third book that's got that wrong you know!" she said to no-one in particular. The comment did break Hermione's rant, and she looked at Ginny, as if she had just uttered an unforgivable swear word.

"What did you say?" she questioned in a dangerous tone of voice, one eyebrow raised.

"These books, they all say that a Ghost can't be harmed in any way, being dead in the first place, but we know that's wrong!"

Hermione thought this over for a moment or two, then recognised Ginny's round-about way of mentioning the Basilisk from her first year.

"Oh yeah," she said, trying to make it sound like a small thing. Hermione was always careful that the strong character that was Ginny could also be a little fragile when mentioning her first year of school.

"Hang on, I thought you were revising for Charms, you mean to tell me that all this time you've been looking up ghosts?" Hermione sounded outraged that Ginny could be so carefree when it comes to her exams.

"I'll have you know that I've done plenty of revision, thank you very much, while you've been off confiscating toys from OWL students, I've done the first term of Charms already." Ginny stood up and thrust a sheaf of notes under Hermione's nose. Before stuffing them into her bag and storming out of the library, robes billowing, and hat held on with her spare hand.

"What's wrong with her then?" asked Hermione sitting back down, now addressing Harry.

Harry just looked at her through the thick lenses of his glasses and shook his head before returning to his own revision.

A few minutes later, Ron stumbled into the library, looking thoroughly crestfallen. He dropped his bag noisily onto the table, earning himself a reproving look from Madam Pince.

"I just saw Ginny storming off down the corridor, looked in a right old mood she did. Who's said something to…" he tailed off as he saw Harry's face, miming in Hermione's direction. "…I erm." He finished, sitting down beside Harry and drawing two books out of his bag.

Ron propped one of the books up and ducked behind it in what he thought was a secretive movement.

"Ron, you know everyone in here can see you're up to something when you do that don't you?" said Hermione in a frustrated voice.

Ron appeared sheepishly from behind the book.

"Sorry, I was just trying to say that I've seen Kreacher, but none of the elves know where Myrtle is, it's almost like she's vanished off the face of the earth."

"Ginny has been looking up to see if there is anything in the library about ghosts vanishing, but there doesn't seem to be much written down about them at all." Said Harry, quietly, trying to avoid Hermione's scorn for skipping revision.

"What about Binns?" ventured Ron, "He could tell us, after all he's a ghost isn't he?"

"Well spotted Ron, perhaps if you studied that hard in his classes you'd learn something instead of having to copy me!" Hermione said in a sarcastic tone. Harry smirked, but nodded to Ron.

"Ok, it's worth a try." He said quietly, and returned to his revision.

* * *

Ginny had left the library and headed straight for the girls bathroom, they had spent so much time on cleaning up. As she got to the door, she noticed that Myrtle had got her wish, the bathroom was as busy as any of the others, but there was still no sign of myrtle. Ginny looked around the bathroom, there was no sign of a cauldron, and no sign of any polyjuice potion. Whoever had been making the potion had either moved or stopped.

Ginny thought for a moment or two then set off in the opposite direction, heading towards the dungeons.

Harry and Ron left the library together, intending to find professor Binns and ask him what he knew about ghosts disappearing. They headed off towards the History of Magic classroom, both thinking that the last thing they really wanted to do was to engage the schools most boring teacher in conversation.

Not even half-way to the classroom Harry stopped dead in his tracks. Ron turned to see what had made his fried stop, but Harry held up his hand before he could ask anything.

"Peeves!" he said simply, listening.

Sure enough Ron heard the unmistakable cackle of the poltergeist echo down the corridor;

"Moaning moping Myrtle, won't be moaning no more, cus' moaning moping Myrtle's gonna get buried under the floor!" he cackled wildly as he floated down the corridor, repeating the same lines over again.

"Peeves!" said Harry, standing in front of the odd looking figure. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh Potty, I forgot you and Myrtle are special friends aren't you? Always in her bathroom aren't you? Well Potty, your little friend's got herself some trouble ain't she? Been mean to one girl too many she has." Peeves cackled insanely again.

"What do you mean Peeves, who's she in trouble with?" Harry asked sounding desperate.

"oooh, Potty! You've really got it bad for little mopey haven't you?" laughed Peeves, "Well Potty, Myrtle's got her Ferret friend to thank for this one, it's his fault she got caught sticking her see-through nose in where it wasn't wanted."

With that, Peeves blew them a raspberry and zoomed off down the corridor cackling loudly again.

"What did he mean, Ferret?" asked Ron, looking confused.

"Malfoy!" Harry said simply, looking furious.

* * *

"Malfoy?" asked Ginny looking astonished, "How could Malfoy be behind this? He's not even in school?"

"Yeah? What about the Slytherin Seeker?" argued Harry, absolutely convinced of his suspicions.

"But Malfoy said that was an impostor, remember? At the presentation evening?"

"Yeah, well he would say that wouldn't he? Gives him an alibi doesn't it?"

"Well Slytherin are playing this weekend, why don't we go and watch, see who's right?" said Ginny in an attempt to settle the matter.

Harry nodded, not wanting to argue any more, he was convinced that Malfoy was taking polyjuice potion to make himself turn into a younger version of himself. But why? Harry took out the marauders map again and laid it on the table in front of them.

"You know that anyone taking polyjuice will appear as their real self on this map," said Ginny resting her chin on Harry's shoulder, "If it really is Malfoy, then he'll be on here somewhere won't he?" Harry nodded, Ginny seemed to have tuned in on his very thoughts. He scanned the page, looking for a tiny dot with the oh-so-familiar name. His eyes wandered the page, starting with the Slytherin common room. He searched every corridor leading from the dungeons, and gradually spread his search to the rest of the school.

"He's not on there is he?" asked Ginny in a satisfied tone. Harry grunted and continued to search the map. There was no sign of Malfoy anywhere in the castle. Harry folded the map angrily, the map still visible on the parchment.

Harry slammed it down onto the table in frustration, only then did he notice on the fold of the page a tiny black dot, moving at speed around the Quidditch pitch, the name Draco Malfoy, written neatly alongside it.

"Gotcha!" said Harry in triumph.

_A/N: I am really sorry guys for taking so long to post an update. I promised this one would be posted soon after the last, but I failed miserably. I'm afraid I have no other excuse than being extremely busy all of the time._

_I've written this chapter in the various snatches of spare time I could get to myself, like lunch breaks, late nights and early mornings. I hope you guys like it. I wanted this chapter to be a few pages longer, but decided to split it so you guys had something to read sooner._

_Only about three more chapters until the end of term at my estimation, (May be another one or two more though, we'll see how I get on with the next.) Hope you enjoy!_


	25. Chapter 25 On the Quidditch Pitch

**Chapter 25 – On the Quidditch Pitch**

Harry raced out of the room and took off down the corridor, holding the map in one had and his wand in the other. He didn't care who he bumped into just so long as he got to the pitch while Malfoy was still there. His breath rasped in his throat, his lungs burned with every breath, but he pushed himself on, rung as fast as he could.

Harry took the grand staircase three steps at a time, landing harshly, jarring his ankles, barging past student and teachers alike, earning himself numerous curses and shouts of anger. Without a single word of apology Harry crossed the hall, running straight through nearly headless Nick. This time shouting a hasty word of apology he darted through the front doors and out into the open air. The cold air in his lungs stopped him briefly in his tracks and he stood there for a moment trying hard to control his breathing.

Harry glanced down at the map to see if Malfoy's dot was still there, it was, hovering around the changing rooms. He set off again.

Harry reached the Quidditch changing rooms out of breath, his robes a complete tangled mess. He kicked open the dark studded oak door and walked inside, wand held in his trembling hand out in front of him. The room was empty. Harry checked the map again quickly, Malfoy's dot was no-where to be seen. How could that be? He couldn't have disapparated from inside of Hogwarts Grounds and the map had never lied to him before. Harry scanned the page in a panic, he wiped the sheet clean and tried again.

"I solemnly swear, I'm up to no good!" he declared, hoping that Malfoy's dot would reappear back inside the quidditch pitch, instead he saw three dots heading down towards him. Ginny, Ron and Hermione. Not far behind another dot, this one moving a little slower, was also heading his way, Professor McGonagall.

Harry swore.

"Now that's not the sort of language I expect from my students!" said a smooth silky voice out of no-where. The voice clearly belonged to a woman, but Harry didn't recognise it's owner. Hastily he blanked the map and stuffed it inside of his robes.

"No need to put that fascinating map away! I've got one of my own!" said the voice "I saw you coming!"

Harry turned round and round on the spot searching for the hidden voice. It started to laugh.

"I thought you would be cleverer than that dear!" she chided him, "Ever the muggle boy eh?" she continued, in a mocking tone of voice. "Raised by stinking muggles, lived like a stinking muggle, I suppose you can die like a stinking muggle."

Harry caught a sudden movement from the corner of his eye, and he dived to the floor, only for nothing to happen. The voice laughed again, this time the shape moved out of the shadow. Slowly revealing the figure of the new Muggle Studies Professor.

"Professor Poppett?" Harry asked looking a little confused.

The professor smiled weakly, "Am I?" she asked, "You seemed pretty certain I was someone else a few moments ago weren't you? And then, you were certain that there was no-one here!"

Harry tried to hide his confusion and instead raised his wand and pointed it at the young teacher.

"I don't know who you are or what you're doing, but you're not going to get away with it!" he bellowed.

She looked down at a piece of parchment held in her hand and smiled, "My dear boy, I just did!" and with that she seemed to melt into nothing, in front of Harry's eyes.

The door bust open and Ginny ran through it, wand held out in front of her pointing it wildly at each corner of the room. Ron and Hermione followed shortly after, both looking out of breath.

"Getting…too…old…for…this!" panted Ron. Hermione smirked at him and turned to Harry,

"Harry, we've found Myrtle, or sort of anyway!" she said. "She's in a painting!"

Harry looked confused, "What do you mean, she's in a painting? How did she get there?"

Hermione looked immensely proud of herself and smiled before launching into her explanation.

"One of the few spells that can actually work against a ghost, can trap the spirit inside the frame of a single portrait. Unlike the portrait owners, they can't move from that frame, and they can't speak either. Unfortunately I don't know the counter spell to free her!"

Ginny looked disappointed, "Great, so we know where she is, but we still don't know who did this to her!"

Harry shook his head "Silandra Poppett!" he said simply.

"Nonsense Potter!" said McGonagall as she entered the changing rooms. "Silandra comes to this school highly recommended. She spent a year working in the muggle community of Canberra, Australia before working here, the Australian Ministry almost insisted that she should come to fill our empty position."

"The ministry, or just one person?" asked Hermione looking suspicious.

"Well really I don't think that's any of your business Miss Granger, do you?" replied McGonagall. She ushered the four of them out of the changing rooms and back up towards the castle. "You should be concentrating on your N.E.W.T.s you know!" she continued, lecturing the four students all the way back to the entrance hall. "You three have certainly developed a flair for mischief these past few years, I was rather looking forward to an uneventful year this year." Harry opened his mouth to speak but the headmistress continued, "And YOU Mr Potter, you should know better than to point the finger at innocent people. After all other people have pointed the finger at you so many times in the past. Now all of you, off you go and get some breakfast." Grudgingly the four of them entered the great hall as instructed and went for breakfast.

* * *

Huddled together at the Gryffindor table, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione spent the next half hour talking over the events of the morning. Ron had helped himself to a plate full of bacon, eggs and fried bread and was happily tucking into a second plate of sausages, listening to the other three talking.

"We need to follow her!" said Ron, eager to solve the mystery, his mouth full of food.

Hermione brushed away the crumbs he had just spat across the table and tutted before replying. "Hold on Ron, we need to understand if it is her or not first you know" Said Hermione, "I'm going to the library to see if I can find the counter spell so we can talk to Myrtle! You're coming with me!" she announced pointing at Ron, who had suddenly become extremely interested in his breakfast plate again. Ginny smirked at her brother's discomfort. She knew he didn't enjoy working in the library.

"Don't worry Won-won, I'll follow Poppett around for you." She added, watching his face contort slightly. With his mouth again full of food, Rom mumbled something indistinct and pointed at himself with his fork.

Harry agreed with Ginny's comment, and took out his map for the fourth time to see if he could find the muggle studies teacher.

"Poppett said she had one of these maps. How could she? I thought this was the only one?" he puzzled aloud.

"I suppose it's possible that your dad, Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew could have made more! I mean you only have to read the front of the map to realise that they meant to sell some of these things. What if she's got one of those?" said Ginny, looking seriously at Harry. "and maybe she found a way around being plotted on the map?"

Harry winced at the thought that his fathers map could be causing him so much trouble, but he had to admit. The map did make it sound like they were trying to make a few Galleons out of it.

"It can't be that simple!" said Ron, spraying a light dusting of toast crumbs across the map, "Malfoy turned up at the presentation, remember, and called that boy an impostor. That couldn't have been her because she was sat with the rest of the staff." Ron picked up another slice of toast and began to chew on it thoughtfully.

Ginny thought this comment over in her head as she and Harry wandered back to their dorm.

"It doesn't really matter who that was does it, the main thing is that Poppett is in it up to her neck, we need to find out who she is and what she knows!"

A light seemed to suddenly switch on inside Harry's Head. He stood up excitedly and ran up the stairs without another word. He emerged a few seconds later, clutching his invisibility cloak. He ran across the room, scooping Ginny up as he passed.

"What the…where are we going?" she complained as he swept her towards the door.

"Grimmauld place!" he said as they emerged from their dorm, Harry ran with Ginny to the Statue of the hump-backed witch, then stumbled as best they could along the passage, eventually emerging some time later into Honeydukes' cellar.

It had been a few years since Harry had last used this passageway from the castle, and had forgotten how small the passageway could be, and how crowded the cellar of the sweetshop could get. There were boxes everywhere, each labelled with a different title. Harry shoved a box of chocolate frogs out of the way, nearly tripping over a box of peppermint imps. He swore gently, and turned to see if Ginny had followed.

Ginny, who had never used this passageway before, was looking around in amazement. "Where are we?" she asked in a whisper. Harry replied by pushing his finger to his lips and pointing at one of the boxes with his lit torch. Ginny saw the Honeydukes name printed on the side of a barrel of acid pops and nodded her head in understanding.

Harry ran up the stairs, stumbling slightly half way up his knees banging on the wooden steps. Ginny cursed his noise and pushed him out of the way, opening the door a crack and pointing her wand out into the deserted shop.

Carefully the couple edged their way out into the darkened store and out from behind the counter. Harry stopped and raised an ear to listen. There was no sound from upstairs except for a soft snoring. Harry eyed the ceiling, dubiously and edged towards the door, which Ginny had quietly unlocked and was holding open for him.

"Feels weird!" Harry muttered as they snuck out into the street.

"What does?" asked Ginny, trying to keep her voice low, but unable to mask an edge of excitement.

"I'm sneaking around out of bounds, and Ron and Hermione aren't here to tell me off!"

Ginny sniggered at Harry's comments and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

Harry suddenly felt paralysed, like his whole body had been frozen and was being crushed slowly. Immediately the sensation stopped and he opened his eyes to see the dark, dreary square outside of number twelve Grimmauld Place.

Ginny laughed at Harry's surprise, having played his own trick on him.

"That was a dirty trick to play you know!" Harry said, knowing full well that he would do the same to her later. Harry crossed the street from the centre of the square and approached the gloomy looking building squashed in between its equally gloomy looking neighbours. The two of them ran up the steps to the front door Harry checking carefully to make sure they hadn't been followed.

"What exactly are we doing here?" Ginny asked as Harry closed the heavy front door behind them and carefully led her upstairs to the first floor study away from the portrait of Sirius' mother.

Harry said nothing as he wandered towards the huge wall-sized tapestry depicting the black family tree and started to search each branch carefully. Ginny followed him, looking over his shoulder, suddenly realizing what he was looking for.

"Found her!" she said making Harry jump slightly. "Grand Daughter of Charis Yaxley and Caspar crouch, Silandra Crouch!, must have changed her name or married."

"Doesn't that make her Narcissa Malfoy's second cousin or something like that?" asked Harry, trying to work out the complex lines of wizard genealogy in his head.

"Something like that! They're very loosely related at least. But probably so am I" Replied Ginny looking worried. "Stands a good chance that she's involved with some of our least desirable families though doesn't it?"

Harry nodded slowly.

"Lets get back to hogsmeade before someone notices we're missing."

"Too late." said Ginny as she turned towards the door. Standing in the shadow of the hallway was the slight figure of the Muggle Studies Teacher, wand held out in front of her, a wide smile across her face.

"Your friends thought they were cleverer than me Potter!" she said in the same silky voice she had used that morning. "Thought I wouldn't notice them following me!"

Both Harry and Ginny looked at the young professor in bewilderment.

"Hanging around, watching me in the library. Ha, as if anyone really spends that much time in the library!"

Harry looked aghast,

"What have you done to them?" he demanded, slightly more angrily than he had intended.

"Done with them?" she replied, grinning wolfishly, "Nothing…yet. Your little friends are going to wake up with a bit of a shock though if they're not careful. The Forbidden Forrest can hide many dark little secrets you know."

Ginny nudged Harry in the side, but he ignored her, staring instead with hatred at the woman stood in the doorway taunting them.

"What do you want then?" he asked, again his voice projecting more anger than he wanted.

"Well Mr Potter, I've watched you, I've wondered, I've puzzled even, why such an unremarkable boy as yourself could have defeated the dark lord. I have read your interviews,. Listened to your speeches, but you explained nothing. I've even put my own son into the school to watch over you!"

Harry interrupted her,

"You mean…the Slytherin Seeker? He's your son?"

Poppett smiled slowly at his understanding.

"Catch on don't you?" she taunted in her mocking lazy voice.

"But why does he look like Draco Malfoy?" asked Ginny, unable to curb her curiosity.

"You mean you recognise the family likeness?" replied the teacher in mock surprise, "You don't think he looks like his father?"

Harry took a couple of seconds to work this one out.

"Lucius and you…"

"Well done! I see you're not as dim as I had thought. Dear Lucius didn't want his dirty little secret to come out, oh no, his lovely wife was far too delicate to be told that he has another son!"

Ginny nudged Harry in the side again, this time a little harder, and Harry risked a glance at her. As soon as Harry turned his view from the professor he knew what he had to do. At the sight of his movement she had raised her wand and held it outstretched straight ahead of her, she shot a bolt of green light towards him, Harry dropped to one knee, revealing what Ginny had been hiding behind his back, her own wand, pointed directly at the teachers face.

"Expelliarmus!" she cried out, Poppetts wand flew high into the air, and Harry leaped up to catch it. Ginny, stepped forwards and hit the now defenceless teacher hard in the face.

"Where's Ron and Hermione?" Harry shouted at her, holding his wand under her chin. Harry saw the fear, as she twitched her eyes towards the door.

"Harry, the Forbidden Forrest, remember!" shouted Ginny, getting to her feet.

"Hold on a second," Harry quickly conjured up ropes and bound his prisoner legs first, then her hands, finally silencing her whimpers with a gag in her mouth.

"Kreacher?" he called. A second later, there was a loud crack and the small house elf appeared.

"Keep an eye on her Kreacher, don't let her leave this house."

With that Harry raced after Ginny, his robes billowing behind him, his wand held ready in his hand.

* * *

"Where are we?" asked Ron, looking around at their gloomy surroundings. His legs and feet had been bound together by a strange blue glowing light, he could see Hermione opposite him, watching him, held against a gigantic tree trunk by the same strange blue light. She had buises on her face, and her robes had been roughly torn from one shoulder.

Hermione didn't reply. She seemed to have not heard him.

"'Mione? Are you ok?" he asked, looking at her closer. She seemed to have turned a very pale shade of grey, her gaze fixed steadily at a point behind Ron.

"What are you looking at?" he said, his fear growing steadily. He turned his head to follow the line of her gaze. Stood very still, in a line just behind Ron was a group of five giant black spiders. Ron froze. The middle spider, the biggest of the group, clicked his pincers impatiently. Ron's face drained of all colour too as he stared at the motionless, hairy beasts.

* * *

"Hagrid!" Bellowed Harry as he pounded on the door to Hagrid's hut. "Hagrid, please it's Harry, open up!"

There was a muffled scrabbling at the door, that Harry suspected was Fang, Hagrid's giant boarhound, trying to get out, then the door was pulled open a crack, one of Hagrid's beetle black eyes appeared at the opening.

"Hagrid, we need your help, Ron and Hermione are being held somewhere in the Forrest!"

Hagrids eyes opened wide with alarm.

"Yer'd better wait there! I'll get me crossbow!"

_A/N: Hi guys, hope you like this update. I have found this one really difficult to write and have re-written it at least three times already. I'm having some difficulty in getting all of my ideas and plans in so that they can be understood. There is so much going on at the moment that It's hard to get the detail in at the right time. Hope you can understand it ok._

_Next chapter, we find out what happens to Ron and Hermione, also Harry & Ginny get the chance to relax a little!! (Hope you like!)_

_Please leave feedback if you liked this chapter, or if you have any comments. (I'm expecting this to be one of my least favourite chapters!)_

_Thanks for reading!_


	26. Chapter 26 A Rescue of Sorts

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* * *

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Chapter 26 – A Rescue of Sorts

The middle spider clicked it's pincers impatiently, and stretched out its front legs, lowering its body close to the ground for just a moment. Ron's fixed gaze fell on the long coarse hairs covering the spiders huge black body and he whimpered hopelessly.

Hermione too stared at the spider, motionless, unspeaking. Her thoughts a mystery to anyone but herself.

Ron looked back at her, saw her eyes full of fear, like she was screaming inside her own head. He had to do something he thought, but what?

Ron thought long and hard, back to a memory he had hoped to have forgotten by now, the memory of that dark night in his second year, when he and Harry had gone wandering into the forest on Hagrid's advice, following the trail of small spiders to the hollow deep in the darkest area of the forest. They had nearly been eaten alive. He and Harry had gotten away, but how? He couldn't remember. The night had been too full of horrors, too much like a waking nightmare. He had tried to forget too hard.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the middle spider stand back up fully and stretch one leg forward, ready to advance.

"The car!" Ron suddenly remembered, blurting the word out loud into the silent night air. The sound of a human voice so loud and sudden in the clearing made two of the spiders twitch, their legs curling grotesquely inwards for a moment, but Ron paid them no attention. Instead he did something that was normally unthinkable and just maybe a little but childish.

"Brrrrrm, Brrrrrrrrrrum." He shouted out loud, in the best car-like tone he could muster.

The spiders that had started to advance stopped in their tracks and scuttled backwards slightly, looking for the source of the noise, the turquoise coloured machine that now lived wild amongst the trees.

"Brrrrruuuum, brummmmmm" shouted Ron again.

The spiders wearily retracted their legs taking one or two steps backwards.

This time he was greeted by the muffled, distant sound of a car horn, echoing through the trees and into the clearing. The rough burbling sound of an engine revving came through the trees, further frightening the spiders, who were now retreating slowly back to the tree line. A dim pool of yellow-white light spread into the clearing as Ron's dads car, looking more battered and wild than ever, approached the spot where Ron and Hermione were being held.

* * *

At the sight of the car speeding into the clearing, Hermione seemed to come round slightly, noticing Ron for the first time. Hermione, wriggled against the strange blue light restraints, trying to sit properly upright. She called to the car quietly, her voice little more than a whisper. The car, which had been patrolling the edge of the clearing turned towards her and slowly rolled past Ron. As the headlamps turned to shine on Hermione, Ron saw that the blue restraints seemed to dim. Hermione stood up, free from the bonds and patted the car bonnet and pointed towards Ron. The car revved it's engine and turned to face him. Ron found the tight binding feeling against his legs and wrists lift and he managed to stand up too.

"Dark light ropes!" explained Hermione, "disappear in bright light. Honestly, don't you pay attention in Defence against the Dark Arts? That was Fourth Year level you know!"

Ron shrugged but smiled at her, before throwing his arms around her neck and kissing her passionately.

* * *

Hagrid slammed the door of his hut closed behind him, crossbow in hand and a fierce look on his face.

"C'mon then, yer don' know wha's in there these days!"

"Wait a minute," said Ginny, stopping both Hagrid and Harry mid stride.

She raised her wand, "Expecto Patronum" she whispered, a bright silver light erupted from the end of her wand. Ginny's patronus turned to look at her for a moment or two before turning and racing towards the castle.

Harry raised an eyebrow,

"I've sent for McGonagall to go and get Poppet from Grimmauld place!"

"No, I meant I was surprised, I didn't know you knew how to do that!" Harry replied.

"There's a lot I can do that you don't know yet Potter!" Ginny retorted, with a flirty look in her eye.

"If yer two 'ave quite finished…" Hagrid began, interrupting their moment.

* * *

The trio made it to the edge of the forest before the spiders appeared. Harry groaned, Ginny screamed at the sight, and Hagrid just sighed. Rolling up his sleeves, Hagrid charged at the first one, swinging a massive punch at it's head.

His fist made contact with a sickening crunch and the spider dropped to the ground. The others ignored Hagrid and scuttled past all three of them, obviously in a great hurry to get away from something.

Harry grinned as he saw the headlamps coming towards him. Ginny yelled for him to watch out, but Harry waved her down as the car pulled up outside of Hagrids hut.

The doors to the car flew open as Ron and Hermione leaped out. Ron and Ginny, Hermione and Harry all collided in a huge hug, quickly followed by Hagrid embracing all four of them in a bone-crushing hold.

All five of them began talking at once, each trying to tell another their story and what they had found out. Hagrid ushered them all into his hut, putting his large black kettle over the fire and fishing around for something.

Ginny explained to Ron, Hermione and Hagrid, what had happened at Grimmauld Place, then Ron had described what had happened in the forest.

"What I don't understand is how you ended up out there?" said Ginny, looking slightly puzzled.

"Honestly, nor do I." Replied Hermione looking surprised her lack of knowledge. "Last thing I remember is looking for a book for our homework then waking up with those big hairy things over me."

Harry smirked, "Ron, have you been parading around the library naked again?" he snorted.

They couldn't help themselves, all five of them burst out laughing. It was such a relief that it was over.

"What about Poppet though?" asked Ron.

Ginny explained that she had sent for McGonagall and that it was best to leave it to her.

For once Harry agreed with her, he explained that just for once he didn't want to have to worry about what happened to the villain. "I'm sure McGonagall will do the right thing." He added.

* * *

After what seemed like hours Harry and Ginny left Hagrids hut, stumbling slightly on their way up to the castle.

Hagrid had found a bottle of firewhiskey and they had all become just a little bit tipsy, toasting their successes.

Harry and Ginny walked around the edge of the forest, in an attempt to be alone for a while before having to go back to the busy castle interior.

Feeling utterly exhausted, Harry sat down underneath a large shaded oak tree, Ginny decided to sit on top of him. Before Harry knew it, Ginny was kissing him passionately on the lips, it had been so long since he had felt her close to him. The two of them had been so busy trying to find out what had been going on, that Harry had forgotten what it was like to feel his girlfriend so close.

His passions overtook him and he began to pull her clothes off. Both of them were still wearing their school robes. Harry made short work of unfastening Ginny's blouse under her robes, then releasing her bra to leave her bare and exposed to the night air. Harry was surprised to find that Ginny had been doing the same to him.

Ginny took Harry in her hand and hungrily, eased him inside of her, desperately needing to feel him. She urged her groin onto him, grinding with her waist until she found the right spot, then lingered there.

Harry reached up to hold her, but Ginny took his hands and pinned them to the ground. It had started to rain, but neither of them noticed, too entwined in each other's passions, Ginny's hair began to drip rain water down her back and her chest, beaded with the droplets of water, which ran slowly down to Harry's own body.

Harry used his strength to rock them both backwards and forwards, up and down, making Ginny squeak in delight, until finally after what had seemed like hours, the soaking wet couple, collapsed into a heap on the grass.

"I hope no-one was watching that!" whispered Ginny into her boyfriends ear. Harry chuckled quietly. "Not much we could have done if they had!" he replied kissing her cheek.

The couple dressed quickly finding that their clothes were now completely saturated.

* * *

They ran through the rain back up to the main entrance, shuddering with the cold. Harry turned to Ginny and whispered in her ear that they should go upstairs and dry off together, she nodded and they turned towards the stairs to head up to their dorm. Ginny suddenly froze. At the foot of the stairs, stood a familiar looking young blonde boy, wand raised and lip curled in a look of extreme dislike. His eyes narrowed as his gaze flicked to Harry "Avada Kedavra."

_A/N: Nearly at the end of the big storyline now. Just another chapter to go then life returns back to normal and I'm going to start another story line._

_Hope you liked this chapter. I had a lot of requests for some Harry / Ginny Time, and a few for some more involvement from Ron and Hermione._

_Ron and Hermione will feature quite heavily in my next chapter._

_My chapters from this one onwards are going to be quite a bit shorter, as I like to write in chunks and think it best o publish these chunks one at a time rather than make you all wait until I've written several. I would like to say sorry to those who have been waiting for so long for another chapter, I just don't get much time to write these days so I'm writing in every spare 5 mins I get._

_As always I value your feedback, any suggestions or requests you may have, just let me know!_


	27. Chapter 27 The Last Straw

**Chapter 27 – The final Straw**

"Rictusempra!" shouted a voice off to Harry's right, as the killing curse narrowly missed Harry's shoulder.

"Stupify," yelled Ginny, aiming her wand at the now bent-over young boy.

Harry and Ginny ran towards the immobile body of the son of their Muggle Studies teacher. Ron, came out of the shadows and joined them.

"A tickling charm?" Ginny asked her brother with a raised eyebrow.

Ron simply shrugged. Harry knelt beside the body before rolling him over to see his face.

"You know now I look at him, he doesn't look all that much like Malfoy!" He muttered to Ginny.

Ron looked puzzled at the pair.

"What do you mean?"

Harry looked up at him and began to explain the events of the last few hours.

"Mental!" he said simply after Harry had finished his story.

Harry and Ginny righted the young boy and Ron used his wand to conjure up thick brown ropes which wrapped around his body, immobilising him in case he came round again.

"I'll take him!" announced a voice from across the entrance hall, as Professor McGonagall strode through the front doors.

Harry looked relieved and allowed the Headmistress to levitate the body and march off towards her office.

* * *

Griffindor tower had never looked so welcoming thought Harry as he pinned the details for the final Hogsmeade weekend of the term on the notice board.

The year seemed to have flown by and Harry had spent so little time in his once-favourite part of the castle.

True he had his own dorm and living area to share with Ginny, but he still missed the tower. Slumping down into an old squashy armchair by the fire he reminisced on the nights he had spent sat in that very same spot writing endless scrolls of homework for Snape or Professor Binns.

A noise behind him made Harry snap out of his daydream. The portrait had opened and a group of third-year students were noisily entering the common room. One or two called a cheery "Hi" to Harry and one or two others waved at him as they found themselves somewhere to sit. A couple of second-year girls sat staring at Harry, giggling every time he looked in their direction.

"Still got the girls falling at your feet mate?" asked Ron, appearing behind Harry's chair. Hermione stood there with him and grinned as Harry flushed red.

The two sat down next to the fire with Harry. Hermione pulled out an enormous textbook and opened it silently. Ron tugged a book out of his own bag, shrugging, "Exams!" he said simply. Harry nodded and kicked his own bag.

"I know, just after what happened today I somehow don't feel like revising for my NEWTs."

Ron nodded sagely, "Tell me about it, sometimes there are more important things in life aren't there?"

Hermione looked up at the pair of them. "You know if you don't start to revise soon, you two will fail your NEWTs, then what will you do?"

Ron leaned back in his chair and stretched his hand behind his head. "Weeell…I thought I'd make a fortune by writing up Harry's life story!"

Harry punched him on the arm. "Don't even think about it." He said, bending down to pick out one of his own books. Hermione smiled at Ron, grumbling as he set to his own revision.

* * *

Harry, Ron and Ginny spent the following weeks between classes, homework, revision and Quidditch practice.

Gryffindor's last match of the season was fast approaching and there was a rumour circulating that there would be scouts looking for promising players. Ginny was keen to impress.

Ginny held Quidditch practices every other night in the run up to the match. Harry marvelled at how well the team seemed to be playing together in practice. Everyone knew exactly where the next person should be, and the quaffle was little more than a blur as it was passed up the pitch to sail towards the goal. Even Ron was on top form, rolling right over on his cleansweep to make a spectacular save.

Harry himself had caught the snitch just seconds after it's release, and was relishing being on his broom, worry-free, with the wind in his hair.

Ginny called the team back to the ground, and they all flew down, every one of them smiling happily, confident for the game against Ravenclaw.

"That was our best practice yet," said Ginny, congratulating the team, "but we all need to keep our focus on Saturday, Ravenclaw are still a very strong team, and they just might surprise us." The team nodded almost in unison, taking in her words. "Ron, you might want to tighten up slightly on your left hand hoop, Demelza, just keep an eye on the bludgers, one or two got close." They nodded again in acknowledgement and Ginny smiled, "Well done everyone, lets go and get changed. You've all got tomorrow night off, I want you all rested before Saturday."

Walking back up to the castle, Ron didn't look too happy. "A night off? Quidditch practice was my only excuse for not spending all night revising in the library. If I'm off tomorrow Hermione will have me doing a test or something." He complained to Harry.

"Listen mate, she's your girlfriend, why don't you just tell her you want a night off?"

"Well I was thinking perhaps WE could do something, you know, you could tell her we're going to have a wizards chess tournament or something?"

Harry looked at Ron in slight disbelief. All these years and he was still trying to find excuses not to do homework.

"Alright, but you're explaining to Hermione why you won't be joining her in the library!"

Ron grimaced but agreed.

* * *

Harry and Ron, sat in front of the roaring fire in the Gryffindor common room, Harry felt tired after a particularly gruelling potions lesson and Rons robes smelt strangely of burned cabbage after his hyperactive wolfsbane potion had overflowed onto his lap. The wind and rain lashed against the dark windows, spring demonstrating that it was not yet done with winter. Here and there huddles of fifth years were frantically revising for their OWLs, while first, second, third and sixth years were making every effort to keep warm, playing raucous games and making as much noise as possible. More than once Harry stood up and confiscated howling hang-gliders, – a new Weasley product, where a small paper aeroplane thrown across the room, made a noise like a wailing banshee, - a box of Dr. Filibusters Wet-Start fireworks and a particularly viscious fanged Frisbee, which had just taken off the top of a first years hat.

Ron shook his head as if to say that such things were juvenile, but Harry saw his eyes dart quickly to the fanged Frisbee. Harry knew he had always wanted one of those, and so pushed it further away from him.

"Check mate!" said Ron, triumphantly moving his queen across the board.

Harry's king looked up at him in frustration having just lost his sixth game in a row.

"Ron, don't you think that's enough for tonight?"

Ron shook his head, re-setting the board for another game "the longer we stay here, the less revision Hermione will make me do in the library!" he grinned.

"Is that so?" exclaimed a flustered looking Hermione from behind Ron's chair.

Ron spun round so fast that he fell out of his chair.

"Is that all I am to you Ronald, just a nag, making you study? Well excuse me if I care about you enough to try and make sure you at least try to get a half-decent set of grades!" Hermione was stepping slowly towards Ron, making him crawl backward on the floor towards the protection of Harry's chair. "Well I've had enough, if you want to act like a third year, then you do that, but don't come crying to me when you…" Hermione's voice was stopped abruptly when Ron yelled out in pain. The whole common room stopped and looked towards the trio by the fire. Ron clutched his hand in pain and brought it up into the light. He had put his right hand directly on top of the fanged Frisbee, which had taken a bite out of his hand, removing his little finger and half of the two next to it. Ron screamed hysterically has he looked at his missing digits.

Hermione looked around in panic,

"Quick, Harry, give me a hand to get him up to the hospital wing, don't worry Ron, Madam Pomphrey will sort it out in no time I'm sure."

Harry bent down and with disgust, picked up Ron's severed fingers from the common room floor, wrapping them in a handkerchief, he tucked them in his pocket and hurried to support Ron as Hermione dragged him to his feet.

_A/N:Hello again folks, hope you like this short chapter, My big storyline is drawing to a close with just one or two twists left, (Find out in the next chapter), and I'm looking forward to getting back to writing Quidditch, lessons and the NEWTS, before we go back home. I doubt we've seen the last of Hogwarts yet, but certainly the end of term is coming up. Please leave me feedback if you are enjoying the story. If you have any specific requests let me know and I will try and write them in! Otherwise sit back and enjoy the rest of term. I've some exciting ideas for when they all finish school. I'll try and get another chapter up sooner than this one took, so watch this space._


	28. Chapter 28 Goals goals and more goals

Chapter 28 – Goals, Goals and More Goals

Harry could tell that Ginny was not at all happy. She had burst through the hospital wing doors, robes billowing, with a face like thunder.

"You stupid little…" she started, looking furiously at Ron, "do you know how hard we've all worked towards this match, and YOU go and lose your fingers."

Harry had never seen Ginny talk to any of her family like this before, he decided that he had better keep quiet himself.

Ron's hand was being held in a pale cream bowl which was full of a strange green potion, which appeared to be bubbling slowly and noisily, emitting an acrid stench of scorched hair. Ron's nose was wrinkled up at the smell.

"Now now, I won't have all this commotion, out all of you now!" Madam Pomphrey came bustling over, looking irritated with all the noise and disturbance in her normally quiet ward.

Ginny stood her ground, "Will he be fit to play Quidditch in the morning?" she asked. Harry detected a slight note of worry in her voice.

"Mr Weasley will not be going anywhere for at least two days young lady. Fingers re-attached can drop off again if not given enough time to heal." Ginny looked like she was about to ask another question when Madam Pomphrey interrupted her, "and I might not be lucky enough to re-attach them a second time." She added, adding to Ginny's gloomy expression.

Hermione stayed in the hospital wing, reading her revision notes out loud to a flustered looking Ron. "Honestly Ron, this is fascinating stuff if you would just get into it!" she said, lowering her Defence Against the Dark Arts notes. "Banshees are some of the most mis-understood creatures in our world you know!"

Ron smiled weakly, and twisted his hand in the bowl. A plume of geen smoke issued as his fingers left the liquid briefly. His skin seemed to his as he pushed his barely mended fingers back under the surface. Ron wrinkled his nose again.

"This stuff stinks." He complained to no-one in particular.

Hermione shot him a reproachful glance, before raising her notes and continuing to read from the page. Ron slumped back into the cool thick pillows and sighed.

Harry doubted that he had ever had a worse nights sleep before a match. Over and over again he had dreamed of the match, he saw the unprotected Gryffindor Hoops assaulted again and again, to his dismay seeing every time a goal was being scored. In his dreams the hoops changed to live-snakes, hissing every time a Gryffindor player tried to defend them. The sky was dark and cloudy, the ground looked grey and lifeless.

Harry climbed out of bed and pulled his Quidditch robes on. He heard a faint rustling behind him as Ginny stirred in her sleep, obviously having the same sorts of dreams he had been suffering. Harry quietly picked up his broom and crept out of the room.

Ravenclaw were fielding the strongest team Harry had ever seen. All of them were relatively unknown to Harry, after all the past few years had given Harry other things to think about other than other house quidditch teams. Harry reflected that this was probably the reason why he had not been reinstated as captain of the team.

Harry trudged slowly down through the entrance hall and out into the outside air. The morning looked a little dark and dismal. Harry's hopes faded a little, he had hoped that with summer approaching the weather would be a little brighter. Looking up at the dark grey clouds Harry sighed. The wind was buffeting the tops of the trees as Harry mounted his broom and kicked off lightly into the air. Harry climbed higher and higher spiralling upwards before pointing his broom handle towards the quidditch pitch and putting on a burst of speed.

He thundered into the empty stadium screaming up to the goal hoops at the far end before turning sharply and thundering back up the pitch to the opposing goal hoops. He repeated this move a couple of times before he spotted a lone figure standing in the middle of the pitch. It was Hermione.

Harry flew down and landed neatly next to her. He said nothing, her face was long and tearful.

"You won't take it out on Ron if you lose today will you?" she started. Harry shook his head slowly, looking at his friend seriously.

Hermione looked as if she had been crying for some time. Harry was perplexed, it wasn't like Hermione to cry like this.

Seeing Harry shake his head Hermione smiled a little. Harry put his arm around her and walked with her off the pitch.

"We're going to have to make sure we score as many goals as we can ok?" Ginny looked around her team sat around the changing room with a fierce look in her eye. "and Harry, if ever we needed a quick catch it's now!"

Harry nodded and grinned. He didn't feel at all confident, but he had to keep face in front of the rest of the team. Ginny had failed to find a stand-in keeper for Ron and so the team was going out one man short. Not at all a good start.

The whistle blew and the team took to the air, rising in perfect unison. Harry shot up above the rest of the team and took off in a fast circle of the stadium, searching for the tiny winged snitch. Far below Harry could see that already their lack of numbers was starting to take its toll on the Gryffindor team. The two Ravenclaw beaters had sent a well-aimed bludgers towards Ginny, forcing her to execute a violent swerve, which made her drop the quaffle. A tall rangy looking Ravenclaw chaser caught the quaffle and threw it hard down the pitch to his counterpart who was hovering close to the centre hoop. Seconds later the Ravenclaw were celebrating their first goal.

Ginny recovered quickly and had soon passed the quaffle to Fiona who had passed to Demelza. Harry grinned and carried on searching for the snitch. Harry raced round the stadium franticly searching high and low. Harry heard the sound of groaning and looked down to see Ravenclaw celebrating yet another goal. Ron's absence was taking its toll.

There was a brief glimmer of gold high above the Ravenclaw goals, but as soon as Harry saw it, it disappeared again. Yet more celebrations rang in Harry's ears as Ravenclaw shot another goal through Gryffindor's hoops.

Harry grasped his broom handle and looked down to see where he could help.

One of the Ravenclaw Beaters hammered a bludger towards Demelza, the heavy ball finding its mark with a dull thud. Both Demezla and the Quaffle she was carrying fell to the ground. Demelza lay unconscious. There was a roar of delight from the Ravenclaw supporters as one of their chasers swept down and gathered up the quaffle, pelting up the field with it tucked under her arm before lobbing it through the left hand hoop.

Harry dived down towards the Ravenclaw captain, a short but stocky looking beater. His accelerated towards him screaming incoherently as he did so. The Ravenclaw captain looked alarmed at the attack. At the last minute Harry swerved out of the way and looped around the other player, revealing that a bludgers had been following him hard on his tail. The Ravenclaw captain had no chance to dodge as the bludger hit him hard in the shoulder. Harry heard the crack as the bone broke. Harry grinned and turned back to the match.

Ginny was shouting at the rest of the team, urging her beaters to keep the Ravenclaw chasers at bay. As she shouted at Coote a fast moving bludger hit his broom, spinning him violently round in the air. Ravenclaw shouted in delight as yet another goal soared home.

"Harry, for Merlin's sake find that snitch!" shouted Ginny angrily. Harry turned and scowled at Ginny, she blew him a kiss as an apology and flew off in pursuit of the quaffle, revealing a small golden ball hovering where her head had been a second before. Harry put on a burst of speed and pelted towards the snitch. A second later he punched the air with his fist clamped tightly around the fluttering ball. Ginny breathed a sigh of relief and winked at him. "Well done." She mouthed from across the pitch.

_AN: Hi everyone, I'm really sorry for the delay in getting a new chapter up here. I'm afraid my life has taken a bit of a dramatic turn itself and has taken over for a while and I've not had the time to get a chapter posted for ages! I'm glad I got this chapter up as I'm trying to tie up some of the school bits before the end of the term. I've still got NEWTS left to go then schools out! Please forgive any continuity errors, I have lost my story note book so am trying to remind myself by re-reading what I've already written and remember some bits I may have forgotten. I promise by the next chapter I will be back up to speed and will have something really interesting for you to get your teeth into. (May take me a week or so to get right!) I hope you liked this chapter in the meantime, please leave feedback if you have any comments you would like me to read. Thanks again for reading my story._


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